


Carmine Coffee

by Chosha_Hoshiko



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Sexual Situations, Drunken Confessions, Drunken Kissing, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, Love Triangles, M/M, Parties, Presents, Secrets, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2019-06-14 14:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 46,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15390786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chosha_Hoshiko/pseuds/Chosha_Hoshiko
Summary: Shizuo hadn't made it into college. That wasn't so much of a surprise to him, or anyone else around him. But he had managed to land a full-time job as a barista in a quiet coffee shop to help him set up for a career later on down the road. Working alongside his schooldays friend Shinra, Shizuo had set up a pretty decent life for himself without any disruptions, trouble, or enemies. Until Shinra's roommate from college - the confident, beautiful, intelligent, perfect bastard Orihara Izaya - waltzes into his life...and turns it completely upside down.Izaya had made it into college with a full ride. He'd gotten perfect marks on all his exams, he was the star student of the psychology program, he was popular, and he even worked as a part-time model in his spare time for extra cash. By all rights, Izaya had the perfect life. Except for one simple thing: he was unbearably lonely. Izaya had never put any time into relationships, and as such, had a very limited circle of friends and absolutely no love life. Now Izaya had never really had the urge to change that...until he saw the blonde barista Heiwajima Shizuo. And his priorities suddenly shifted.





	1. The Blonde Barista

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NS_Fumikage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NS_Fumikage/gifts), [Professor_Shwein](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Professor_Shwein/gifts).



> Hello everyone! I just want to say a huge congratulations to AO3 for hitting the 4 million fanworks mark - this is such an amazing site and I'm so thrilled to be a part of it and the wonderful, supportive community that makes it what it is.
> 
> I've been planning this fanfic for a while now, since the end of my first fanfic "Private Lessons", and I'm proud to say that I'm finally going to start posting it! For those of you that were with me throughout "Private Lessons", I guess we can say that the release of this fic is sort of like a celebration for it: "Private Lessons" just broke 15,000 hits! I honestly can't believe it! So thank you so much. A huge thank you to everyone who made that amazing event possible!
> 
> And for those of you who've never read "Private Lessons" or any of the little works I made based on it, I'm really glad to have you here and I hope you enjoy my writing style. More so than that, I hope you enjoy this story! <3

Shizuo hadn’t made it into college.

That was a no brainer. It was pretty much expected when he graduated high school. He could see it in the smug eyes of his classmates. He could see it in the pitying eyes of his teachers. He could see it in the sad eyes of his parents. Not a single one of them had expected him to pass his college entrance exams, not even to the closest community college that he’d been interested in with notoriously low standards for accepted students. And they definitely hadn’t expected him to make it into the college that he actually wanted to go to: Rikkyo University.

It was a college in Ikebukuro with an esteemed liberal arts program, close to his home and ranked fairly high among Japanese universities in the Ikebukuro area. He’d wanted to enter the Department of Letters and study literature there, maybe even get some kind of degree and earn a nice quiet job involving books and a distinct lack of social contact.

But…he hadn’t gotten in. To either of them. Or to the three others that he tried applying to as a last ditch effort. He just wasn’t a good test taker. He couldn’t handle that sort of pressure very well. And if Shizuo was being honest with himself, he wasn’t very smart.

He knew all of that though, damn it! He had known about all of those things before signing up for those stupid exams! But he’d tried taking them anyway. Tried and failed. Tried and failed. Tried and failed. He was nothing but a failure in life!

His brother Kasuka was going to make it far. He already had a part-time job with a modeling agency and his grades were all top marks. He was popular and attractive and smart and good with people and he knew how to get things done. Kasuka was the perfect child. Compared to him, Shizuo…well, Shizuo barely passed as a human being, let alone a decent child.

Now Shizuo wasn’t jealous of his little brother. He was happy for him, truly happy, and he couldn’t be prouder that his sibling was doing so well for himself when there were people like Shizuo struggling to figure out which foot went in each shoe in the morning. Shizuo did sometimes wish that some of Kasuka’s talent and fortune had gone to him, like maybe a tad bit of brains or social skills, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

Kasuka was going to travel down his paved path of success and Shizuo was going to trudge blindly down a dirt road of failure. It was just a matter of who hit the end first.

“Shizuo!” A deep voice shouted, jolting the blonde teen out of his reverie. “Stop daydreaming! We’re going to have customers soon!”

“Yes sir!” Shizuo called back, shaking his head to clear it of the constant unhappy thoughts and grabbing the stack of cups in front of him once again.

He took them over to the counter, arranging them as usual into stacks of small, medium, and large cups and making sure the corresponding lids were set up beside them. He could smell the coffee pots beginning their morning brews for the regulars who’d be coming at any moment now, and behind him, the row of gleaming dispensers for various coffee toppers and boosts stood waiting to be used. He could even smell the small bakery starting up off to his right, the few workers in there getting ready for the long day of work.

Shizuo couldn’t help the small smile that crept over his mouth at the familiar sounds, smells, and sights of his current workplace. He’d been lucky to land this job as a high school graduate unable to enter college, and as a full-time worker no less. It was a little local coffee and bakery shop, one close to a couple of the universities in this area, and one that was just far enough from his neighborhood so that no one had heard of his monstrous reputation.

Shizuo worked as a barista for the shop, making drinks for customers and delivering them pastries if they ordered those on the side. It was a steady, easy enough job. Kind of like being a bartender, but with non-alcoholic drinks. Something even he could do, and as a teenager to boot. Plus, if he did well enough, he could move into a job as a bartender once he was old enough. It was, for him at least, the best option for his future.

Shizuo looked at the sign hanging outside their door, one he knew so well at this point, and smiled at the little gold star they kept next to the curling font of their name. They were called the Firefly Brew Café. It was a peaceful little name for a peaceful little shop. Shizuo really did like it here. As much as his old peers and the majority of the world around him may look down on him for working in a coffee shop instead of going to college, Shizuo knew that this was his best option. At least this way, he could save up money for eventually moving out and starting his own working career, even without a degree.

Yep. Shizuo had a pretty good gig here. And the school year had just started up for the universities around him which meant coffee-addicted college students would be pouring in, along with extra money for the shop. If Shizuo did well during these early morning rush hours, he might even get a promotion.

“Sir, the cups are all set up and everything is ready for the day.” Shizuo called over his shoulder towards his boss’s office in the shop. “I’m going to open the shop now.”

“Thanks, Shizuo!” His boss responded from the back, a single thumbs-up poking out from the behind the wall. “You’re the best!”

Shizuo could feel a warm buzzing starting up in his chest at the compliment as he walked around the counter and to the front door of the shop, a small crowd of teenagers, young adults, and a few others already milling around the door.

Shizuo waved at a few that he knew and then flipped the sign to open, unlocking the glass door to let the stream of customers inside.

As Shizuo gently pushed his way through the crowd of shouting people demanding their morning fix of coffee, he could see his morning co-worker already standing at one of the cash registers, grinning goofily as he took orders. 

“This is going to be a long day, eh Shizuo?” Shinra asked cheerfully as he copied another order, humming to himself as he hung it up on the line beside the others. “You better get started on some drinks!”

“Sure, sure. Don’t tell me what to do, Shinra.” Shizuo grumbled, smacking his friend upside the head. “This is only a part-time job for you, but it’s full-time for me. While we’re in this shop, I rank higher than you.”

Shinra chuckled at the light rebuff from the blonde and continued taking orders, cheerfully asking the next screaming person if they would like a pastry with their coffee.

Shizuo started pulling the orders off the overhead line, shouting the pastry orders in the direction of the bakery as he began formulating various coffee drinks.

He glanced over his shoulder at Shinra, noting the happy way that the pre-med school student did pretty much everything. Shizuo kinda envied his optimistic cheer and enthusiasm. But Shinra was going to Rikkyo University right now as one of their prized medical students, so he had a lot to be happy and enthusiastic about.

Shizuo wished he could say the same.

Shizuo shook his head again and returned to preparing all the drinks, trying to stay focused and keep his head in the game. The bakery needed to know what pastries to make and these crazy college students demanding coffee needed their daily fixes. Shizuo had to make sure both were provided.

He was able to lose himself in the feeling of work, loud shouts and scents of coffee and baked treats mingling in the warm air around him, drowning out all of his other problems, if only temporarily. The movement of his hands over the coffee machines and the shouts of his voice towards the bakery became his only concerns, letting him waft away on a daze of coffee and sweets as he handed off cup after cup and bag after bag to the customers at the counter. It was a peaceful routine, and a pretty good morning of work despite how busy they were from these soon-to-be-regular university students. Shizuo was actually feeling pretty good about himself and about his life.

Then that euphoric haze came crashing down.

“Hey Shinra.” A tired voice sighed from the cash register behind Shizuo, somehow cutting through the happy haze Shizuo’s brain had fallen into. “How are you doing this morning?”

“Izaya!” Shizuo’s happy friend cried in delight. “I didn’t know you came to Firefly Brew!”

“I don’t.” The second voice admitted as a rustling sound filled the air, probably money coming out of a pocket as this new person got ready to pay Shinra. “But you said you worked here in the mornings and you keep preaching about it to me like the pastor of a coffee church so I figured why not? Want me to get you anything before we head off to class?”

“Aw, you’re so thoughtful before your evil brain kicks in in the morning.” Shinra said cheerfully, typing something into his cash register. “I’d love a caramel latte if you don’t mind keeping it hot for me until I get off work. Should only be about thirty more minutes.”

“Okay.” The Izaya person sighed. “Once my “evil brain” kicks in, I’ll be sure to poison it.”

Shinra laughed at the comment, printing out another receipt and handing it to the person that Shizuo had yet to turn around and see. “Thanks, Izaya. Your total is 3,500 yen. I’m assuming you just wanted the black coffee, right?”

“You assume correctly.” The voice said smoothly, a crinkling sound filling the air as the person took the receipt from Shinra and handed him the appropriate amount of money. “I’ll just wait for you in the corner or something while you finish up.”

“Thanks!” Shinra chirped, immediately turning to the next customer.

Shizuo spared a quick glance from the current drink he was making over his shoulder, watching a figure that he didn’t recognize drift over to the waiting line for already ordered drinks.

Its back was turned to him so Shizuo couldn’t quite make out its face, and its voice had been this strange mixture of high, silky, and rich notes that Shizuo couldn’t quite pin down as male or female. It was a beautiful voice, slightly annoying in the smug undertones it carried, but beautiful nonetheless. It sounded confident, sure of itself.

And when Shizuo watched the way the person walked, head held high, steps confident and proud, a sort of powerful aura radiating from him despite the exhaustion filling his body, Shizuo could feel a keen jealously bubble up within him.

That was the voice and walk of a successful person. Some other person who knew what they were doing with their life, and had a paved path set out for themselves already.

Shizuo hadn’t even seen the guy’s face and he already disliked this friend of Shinra’s.

Before the guy turned around to no doubt reveal some smug, haughty, confident features, Shizuo turned back to making the current coffee cup that he was on, trying to catch up on the time he’d wasted in watching that guy. There was no point in continuing to do so. It would just piss Shizuo off more and that was the opposite of what the blonde wanted right now.

He needed to get these orders done and move on with his life. Learn to ignore the successful guy if he became a regular here, and let him move in and out of Shizuo’s life as nothing more than another successful person making him feel bad without even trying.

“Have I ever introduced you to Izaya?” Shinra asked cheerfully as he passed Shizuo another order, apparently unaware of Shizuo’s current feelings towards the guy.

“No.” Shizuo said gruffly, grabbing another order and checking it. Damn. It was Izaya’s. Just when he was trying to push the guy out of his mind, here Shizuo was, staring at his name.

…What a weird name that was, now that Shizuo was thinking about it. Orihara Izaya. Who in their right mind would name their kid that? Shizuo stared at the kanji for a bit before shaking his head and starting on the caramel latte. Just get it over with, Shizuo. Get it over with.

“Would you like to meet him?” Shinra asked next, adding another order to the line with a happy hum. “You two might get along pretty well. You’re both the only friends I made in the school system!”

“I ain’t never seen him before and I went to school with you from grade school to high school.” Shizuo muttered, adding the whipped cream that he knew Shinra liked before going for the caramel drizzle.

“Oh, well I only just met him at orientation.” Shinra said cheerfully. “He’s my roommate at Rikkyo! A comparative psychology major, I think. Ridiculously smart. You know, the guy supposedly could’ve gone to any university he wanted with a full ride? I hear he had perfect marks on his entrance exams! Perfect marks! That’s genius right there.”

“How wonderful for him.” Shizuo growled, feeling more anger rise up in him as Shinra babbled. Man. He was just hating this guy more and more. Still hadn’t seen his face, but Shizuo was already loathing him.

“Yep!” Shinra continued happily, oblivious as usual to Shizuo’s feelings on the matter. “Your total opposite. But I think you should meet. My only college friend and my only other friend have to get together!”

“Not interested.” Shizuo grumbled flatly, grabbing another cup and shoving it under the coffee machine a little harsher than necessary, beginning on the straight black coffee.

“Why not?” Shinra whined, pulling on Shizuo’s arm a bit. “You might really get along. And he could help you study for exams next ye-”

“I said not interested!” Shizuo snapped, glaring fiercely at Shinra with his golden eyes flashing as he grabbed the cups and spun around to the counter. “Now just get out of my hair, got it?”

“My, my. What terrible customer service.” An amused voice said from right in front of him. “And here I heard Firefly Brew was famous for being friendly and courteous.”

Shizuo’s head snapped from Shinra to look at the guy waiting for his order, an apology ready on his lips for the misunderstanding, but it died immediately once he saw who was there.

A smug smirk was plastered onto an equally smug face, freakishly red carmine eyes glittering like jewels right above it. Perfect and glossy raven hair swept around smooth, fair skin, contrasting sharply from black to white. Soft lips perked themselves up into a wider smirk when they noticed Shizuo looking at them, pink and delicious and just as perfectly formed as the rest of his face. The overall features were rather feminine, with high cheekbones and soft facial curves taking up most of Shizuo’s attention, but the sharpness of the eyes and smirk ruined the dainty image instantly. The face was gorgeous but the personality was awful. Shizuo could already tell. Plus, he recognized the confident manner in which this guy carried himself, and the small frame hidden underneath a thick black trench coat that he’d seen earlier.

This was Izaya.

Shizuo’s apology flew out the window upon seeing Mr. Perfect up close, and he simply shoved both the latte and the black coffee into the guy’s hands, trying his best not to touch fingers with the guy as he pulled his hands back as quickly as possible.

“I don’t like you.” Shizuo growled flatly, glaring hard at the beautiful teenager in front of him.

Izaya’s carmine eyes blinked in surprise, then a maniacal gleam entered them as a grin slowly crept up onto his face. “Oh yeah?” Izaya purred, cocking his head slyly at Shizuo as he looked the angry blonde up and down. “That’s too bad. I thought we could have a lot of fun together.” Izaya peered at his nametag and then looked up at Shizuo with one of those shit-eating grins that Shizuo could already tell he would come to hate. “Shizuo-kun.” The boy purred, using Shizuo’s name in a manner that was way too familiar for Shizuo to be comfortable.

“Don’t call me that!” Shizuo snapped, his fists clenching tightly on the counter as he resisted the urge to punch this perfect asshole all the way back to his fancy comparator psycho studies, or whatever it was he was doing.

Izaya merely laughed at the response, his eyes glittering brightly as he looked Shizuo up and down once more. “Shinra?” The boy called, still looking right at Shizuo as he smirked.  
“Yeah?” Shinra asked, looking back and forth between his friends with a happy smile that definitely didn’t belong on his face in this situation.

“I think I might just become a regular here after all.” Izaya said casually, winking at Shizuo before sauntering over to a corner table, plopping down, and starting on his disgusting black coffee with a hum.

Shizuo glared at the annoying newcomer, trying his absolute best to burn the bastard to the ground with his eyes.

“Yay!” Shinra said cheerfully from beside him. “The two of you are getting along so well! You can’t even take your eyes off him!”

“I don’t think you’re getting the true reason behind why that is.” Shizuo growled, turning away from the smirking raven and back to the line of orders that had started piling up. And even while he tried to lose himself in the work of shouting out pastry names and mixing coffees, he felt like those carmine eyes were burning a hole into his back, like rubies equipped with laser beams for the sole purpose of blasting him.

The burning feeling of being watched only subsided once Shinra’s shift was over and he left with that annoying bastard Izaya, the latter blowing Shizuo a distinctly loud kiss before slipping gracefully out the door.

At that last action from Mr. Perfect, Shizuo nearly smashed the coffee machine he was pouring black coffee out of right there and then. He managed to take his hands off it and grab a cup instead to take his anger out on, crumpling it in his fist and smashing it underneath his foot. Unfortunately, that cup happened to be a customer’s recently finished order and so coffee exploded all over him and his uniform. He’d had to apologize to a sweet old lady whose coffee had to be remade, change his uniform, and clean up the mess on the floor all while angry customers demanded their coffee while orders piled up.

Scratch his future plans as a bartender: Shizuo was going to become a murderer long before he made it to the age of twenty-one.

Orihara Izaya was going to make sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of chapter one! I'm thinking that I'll switch points of view between Shizuo and Izaya from chapter to chapter. And each new chapter will probably be released once a month. A lot less often than I would like to update the story, but I'm about to start college so I'll be trying to work out that schedule alongside this. I hope you all don't mind! And I hope you liked the chapter!
> 
> I'll see you next time! <3


	2. The Scarlet-Eyed Student

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! So I had a good deal of time today to just write this morning since I finished all my packing, which actually ended up with me being able to finish this next chapter. Yay me! I'm really happy that you guys seem to like the idea of the story so far and I hope you continue to like it as it goes on!
> 
> I'll see you at the end of the chapter! <3

Orihara Izaya had made it into college. He was the perfect student, after all. He got perfect grades, he was always on time (when he wanted to be), he already knew almost everything brought up in class, he learned quickly for the things he didn’t, and he could probably teach the teachers’ lessons for them more often than naught. With his incredible grades and academic prowess, you would probably think that he’d be a completely unpopular nerd with no social life or status to wield within the school. You’d be dead wrong there.

Everybody knew Orihara Izaya. Everybody loved him, too. He was a heartthrob for most girls in his school, and even some of the guys too, thanks to his graceful features and natural beauty. He could hold conversations with anyone whose path he crossed, no matter what they did or where they came from, and he was a powerful speaker who commanded near instant admiration from those who listened to him. He was athletic, intelligent, handsome, confident, charismatic, and talented. He’d been known all throughout the public school system in his old hometown of Shinjuku before coming to Ikebukuro. In short, Orihara Izaya was a nerd, but the most popular nerd in all of Shinjuku. 

Despite all that, though, Izaya had always been painfully lonely. He didn’t have time for personal relationships, romantic or otherwise, and so while he had many acquaintances who liked to brag about being his friend at school, he knew no one outside of his academic life. He had no true friends whatsoever. He was too busy with acing his tests, winning competitions, and getting ready for college to worry about any of that. His parents expected him to excel in everything he did, as he always had, and so great pressure was riding on him to continue that trend as he approached college, no matter what aspects of his life he needed to sacrifice.

When he got perfect marks on all his entrance exams to the schools he applied for, his parents had rejoiced. They’d thrown a party and invited all of their relatives to see their successful son. They’d all made predictions about how much money would be filling his wallet when he got older. They lavished him with praise and expectations. Only his little sisters kept treating him as they always had, and for that, Izaya was eternally grateful. Even if they did treat him like the trash beneath their feet.

Izaya selected to go to a college that had offered him a full ride but still had the psychology program he was after, and that ended up being Rikkyo University. He joined the ranks of their incoming freshmen, much to the delight of the college board, and quickly became the star of their comparative psychology program.

It was there, at Rikkyo University, that Izaya made his first…friend.

The word “friend” was essentially a foreign concept to Izaya. He was still getting used to the idea of even having one. Of having enough time to have one. But he did have one now. Kishitani Shinra.

Shinra was a pre-med student at Rikkyo and Izaya’s roommate. They’d met first at orientation when both discovered that they were looking for an apartment near the college to rent unlike most of the other students who were going to live in the dorms or stay with their parents. Their reasons for doing so had actually been their first bonding moment.

“I’m trying to get away from my father!” Shinra had said cheerfully when he gave a short bow to introduce himself. “Think you can help me escape? I promise to pay my half of the rent!”

Izaya had merely stared at the strange boy before him, already wearing a lab coat like he thought he’d graduated, and slowly bowed back. “I’m trying to get away from both my parents.” He responded flatly, both boys returning to their original positions and watching each other. “I’ll happily accept your offer if you help me escape, too.”

And thus, the ultimate friendship was born.

Izaya, the psychology student who loved to analyze Shinra’s brain and test his responses to various things that ranged from salt in his drinks instead of sugar to blackmail calls that threatened his girlfriend’s life. And Shinra, the pre-med student who loved performing experimental and probably illegal procedures on Izaya and repeatedly asked him to injure himself so that he could try them out.

Yes, those were the signs of a healthy relationship. But…Izaya had to admit…it was nice having a friend.

Shinra was someone he could talk to if he felt like ranting, about anything. He was always there to listen to Izaya’s existential theories and monologues on humans. He was willing to hear Izaya talk about something exciting that had happened in his classes, including the parts where Izaya analyzed the psychologies of the people involved and came up with theories about how their social upbringings, circles, and stimuli had provoked the interesting event. He even gave feedback on Izaya’s theories if they ever jumped into areas involving his medical knowledge and let Izaya bounce ideas off him.

In return, Izaya was someone that Shinra could talk all day to about his girlfriend Celty (whom Izaya was still uncertain about the existence of or at least doubtful about the actual status of their relationship) and wouldn’t judge him for it. Izaya didn’t even flinch at Shinra’s crazed fantasies about the headless woman, even when they got pretty explicit, and Shinra loved being able to just ramble aloud for hours about her without someone smacking him across the face to get him to shut up. He also loved geeking out with Izaya over various things, from new medical procedures to random facts about body farms, and they could have conversations for hours that revolved around strange and exotic advancements in the medical field.

In general, they were a pair of mismatched weirdos that had never been able to let themselves be truly themselves with anyone else before in their lives.

Izaya was honestly happy to have found Shinra.

Sure, the instant school started everyone found out his name and he’d risen to extreme popularity among the ranks of the students, but Shinra was his first true friend. Izaya was pretty certain that he’d never been more grateful about meeting someone in his life.

Which was why when Shinra got that part-time morning job at the Firefly Brew Café and asked Izaya to start becoming a regular there so he could make more money, Izaya couldn’t turn the crazy future doctor down.

Well, not for a long time anyway. The first few months that Shinra had worked there, Izaya had totally ignored his requests to come, choosing instead to buy his coffee cheap and bland from vending machines along the road on the way to Rikkyo. He didn’t want to have to go to some random café just to get his coffee every morning, especially since coffee was so ridiculously overpriced at some places. But Shinra kept insisting, kept promising that the coffee was actually affordable where he worked, that it all tasted delicious, that there was even a bakery, and that the barista was hot, until Izaya eventually agreed to try it.

Just one morning, he had said to himself that day, wrapping himself up in his coat with a yawn before heading out. Just one morning he would go to this Firefly Brew place and see what was so great about it, if only to get Shinra off his case. Then he would go back to his usual routine of waiting for Shinra at Rikkyo itself, vending machine coffee can in hand, and wallet still securely full.

And it was a great plan that Izaya fully intended on sticking to…until something threw a massive wrench into it.

That something happened to be the “hot barista” that Shinra was always babbling about.

Considering how Shinra was definitely straight (or at least in love with a headless woman’s body), Izaya had been expecting the barista to be some kind of pretty girl or female supermodel. He’d pictured some long legged, big chested, still-somehow-skinny chick with a nice smile and a nicer body, probably with long wavy hair thrown into the mix and perfect make-up adorning her face. In short, the kind of person Izaya’s parents would have wanted him to end up with, and that most of the world expected him to end up with. What he saw instead was…someone quite different.

He saw a tall, broad-shouldered man with messy bleached-blonde hair that made it look like he’d just rolled out of bed and couldn’t be bothered to brush it. He saw intense golden-brown eyes and the kind of gaze that trapped you within itself and refused to let you go, no matter how much you struggled to breathe. He saw lean muscle hidden underneath a Firefly Brew uniform, and when the sleeves of the uniform rolled up those strong arms, he saw how that muscle worked and stretched as the man moved around. He saw a strong jaw and set shoulders, not to mention what appeared to be a perfect backside when the guy turned around to start making coffee. In short, he saw the most perfect specimen of the male species that had probably ever graced man’s wide earth.

Now considering the fact that he and Shinra had never discussed sexual orientation before, and that no one else he’d ever met had seemed to even fathom the idea of it, Izaya had no clue how Shinra had figured out he was gay. Maybe he hadn’t figured it out. Maybe he thought that the barista’s utter sexiness was enough to convert straight men to the gay side without hesitation. Izaya had to admit that if he’d been straight, he would probably be jumping that gap right now after seeing this guy.

Now the coffee had been stupidly expensive and Izaya suspected Shinra had raised his price while Izaya was distracted with staring at the blonde, but the pre-med student had at least been telling the truth about one thing: the barista was hot.

He didn’t like Izaya very much for some reason, but damn he was hot.

Izaya hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Shizuo the entire time that he’d waited for Shinra to finish his shift, and he could tell from the tension in the blonde’s shoulders that Shizuo was all too aware of whose gaze was on him the entire time. Izaya was thrilled by how his gaze seemed to be affecting the blonde so much when none of the other patrons eyeing the attractive male did anything. Even if the only outward response was anger, anger was often an excellent disguise for sexual attraction, both emotions stemming from a basic source of passion. And even if it was anger, anger could swiftly be turned to attraction if the sexual tension was raised high enough.

So Izaya’s little experiment with the blonde began to develop in his mind. He would see just how much he could tick this guy off by coming here on a daily basis, and subtly slip in little sexual innuendos and flirtation devices into their interactions, increasing the amount that he used as time went by. He’d build up the sexual tension between them himself, along with the anger, and then see how long it took for the blonde to cave in to Izaya’s efforts.

It was all in the name of science, of course. Nothing more than a little psychology experiment to keep Izaya entertained while he waited for his coffee. It certainly had nothing to do with Izaya’s…personal desires. That was just absurd.

Even so, he couldn’t resist blowing Shizuo a nice big kiss as he left with Shinra, and imagining what kind of ticked off reaction that would have gotten him from the blonde. Just the thought of Shizuo boiling over with anger, maybe even throwing a coffee cup against the wall or something, had Izaya giggling with delight as he and Shinra headed to Rikkyo University.

And Shinra didn’t miss this reaction at all.

“So…” The brunette began slyly, pushing his glasses up his nose and grinning at Izaya with sparkling eyes. “What did you think of Shizuo?”

“Who?” Izaya asked innocently, taking a sip of his coffee and refusing to look his smirking friend in the eye as they walked along the sidewalk. “Shizuo? I don’t remember anyone named Shizuo at all. Just some idiot at a cash register and the blonde version of an orangutan manning the coffee machines.”

“Oh, you like him!” Shinra sang, cackling in delight as he slapped his knee. “You never insult people right off the bat like that unless you like them!”

“W-What? I do not!” Izaya protested, punching his friend in the arm and glaring at them as they walked along, his face flaming a little despite the chilly bite of the fall air.

“Yes, you do!” Shinra laughed, looking over at Izaya with a wide grin. “Don’t lie to me, Orihara-kun. I saw the way you were eyeing him. You couldn’t take your eyes off him, could you?”

“I was simply planning out my latest experiment.” Izaya sniffed, looking away from Shinra stoutly and trying furiously to get rid of the blush on his cheeks. “It’s just a psychology study with a fascinating subject. Nothing more.”

“Uh huh. Sure.” Shinra teased, poking Izaya in the side with a snicker. “And that’s why you were tittering like a schoolgirl with her first crush just a few seconds ago, hm?”

“I was _not_ tittering like a schoolgirl!” Izaya hissed, spinning around and glaring fiercely at Shinra. “I-I was just laughing at the thought of how angry he must be right now!”

“You think he’s hot and you’re fascinated by the way he seems to hate you.” Shinra said flippantly, smiling at Izaya as they turned the next corner. “And you’re right! Well, about the hate part anyway. My Celty is far hotter than he is! But anyway, he doesn’t like you very much. Not sure why…well, you are a bit of an asshole. That might be why.”

“Oh please, Shinra.” Izaya snorted, waving a dismissive hand in the air as he rolled his eyes. “No one knows I’m an asshole aside from you. Everyone else meets me and thinks I’m an angel from above. How on earth would he be forming such a negative opinion of me based on my behavior already? He hasn’t even known me for thirty minutes.”

“Shizuo-kun is very good at judging people’s personalities.” Shinra said with a nod, smiling brightly at Izaya. “It’s like he can see through them, right as he meets them! Not as analytically or completely as you can, but he’s got a good sense for these things.”

“Hmph.” Izaya huffed, turning away from Shinra and taking another sip of the coffee. “Whatever. So he doesn’t like me. Big deal. It’s a huge part of my plan, anyway.”

“And what plan is that?” Shinra asked curiously as they walked along, waving to some of the other med students that he could see on the other side of the street. “And better be quiet about telling me. We’re entering the zone of your popularity. Gotta keep up your façade.”

Izaya smacked Shinra upside the head for that comment, scowling at him as they neared Rikkyo. “Shut up! Just because everyone likes me and thinks I’m nice doesn’t mean I have to be nice all the time.” He snapped, glaring at his friend. “I am perfectly capable of being exactly who I am, thank you very much.”

Shinra shrugged nonchalantly, his eyes sparkling with delight as he grinned at Izaya some more. “Alright. Whatever you say, Orihara-kun. Now what’s your plan for Shizuo-kun?”

“I’m going to make him as angry as possible while increasing sexual tension and then see how long it takes him to snap and fall for me.” Izaya said plainly, looking right at Shinra as if daring him to defy Orihara Izaya’s plans.

Shinra paused for a little bit here, taking in the idea of Izaya’s plan, and then busted out laughing. “Oh my god!” He cackled, bending over and clutching his stomach as tears began to roll down his cheeks in delight. “That’s just precious! Oh lord, that’s too much! That’s too good! I can’t! I can’t even! Ha ha!” Shinra couldn’t seem to stop laughing at the idea of it, falling clumsily against Izaya and stumbling alongside him as the raven struggled to keep them moving towards class.

“It’s not _that_ funny.” Izaya muttered defensively, his cheeks flaring in embarrassment at his friend’s utter amusement with his plot. “It’s a perfectly fine experiment! You don’t have to laugh so hard at it.”

Shinra laughed for a long time, cackling like a madman and drawing quite a bit of attention to the pair from the freaked out students around them.

“Uh, Orihara-kun?” A deep voice asked hesitantly, and Izaya’s head snapped around to see Kadota Kyohei, one of the other students in their next class, staring at Shinra in concern. “Is Kishitani doing alright? I mean…he looks kinda…crazy.”

“He just didn’t sleep well last night and his brain is finally beginning to snap under the pressures of staying awake.” Izaya responded sweetly, smiling brightly at the architecture major beside him. “Don’t worry. There’s nothing majorly wrong here.”

Kadota hummed lowly as if uncertain about the truth in Izaya’s words, looking down at the still-cackling Shinra. “Well, if he starts acting even weirder, let me know.” The stoic boy finally said, looking up and meeting Izaya’s carmine gaze. “I’ll help you get him to the nurse’s office.”

“Thank you, Dotachin.” Izaya replied with a bright smile, earning himself a scoff and a small glower from the serious boy at the usage of the hated nickname. But despite his brief flash of discontent, Kadota eventually sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, evidently deciding to just brush it off. “Don’t mention it, Orihara-kun.” He said tiredly, nodding once in respect to the popular boy before walking off towards class.

Izaya glanced around and noticed all the girls beginning to materialize in the space around them, their eyes glinting greedily as they watched Izaya, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Oh great. His fanclub.

“Come on, Shinra.” Izaya grunted, trying to ignore the giggles and whispers from all around him as he hefted his friend up and kept dragging him to class. “Quit laughing and get moving. You’re going to make us both late.”

“A-Ah yes.” Shinra managed to get out in between his cackles, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down despite the joy still burning bright in his gaze. “And I’ll g-give your girlfriends time to c-catch you, hm?”

“Shut up.” Izaya muttered, flashing the girls around them a charming smile even as he started dragging his friend’s limp body off. “You know I wouldn’t date any of them.”

Unable to hear his words, all the females around them in the hallway instantly started giggling and shoving each other at Izaya’s smile, some of them beginning to break into arguments over who he was smiling at.

“Yes, yes.” Shinra responded, taking one more deep breath and managing to steady himself back onto his feet, laughter finally dying down somewhat. “Which is actually why I decided to go out on a limb and introduce you to Shizuo-kun.”

“Huh?” Izaya blinked, staring at his friend as the med student started walking by himself, heading to class with a new spring in his step. “What do you mean, Shinra?”

“I mean that despite the hundreds of girls literally throwing themselves at you, you told me before that you’ve never had a girlfriend.” Shinra said calmly as he walked, shooting Izaya a bright grin. “Now even someone as goal-oriented as you might find some time to get yourself a pretty girlfriend if you liked her enough, despite your so-called love for all of humanity, so I began to wonder if you even liked girls at all.”

Izaya’s cheeks started to flush red, the raven looking around nervously to make sure no one was around to hear them as he ran to catch up with Shinra, glaring fiercely at the brunette. “Th-That’s ridiculous!” He hissed, punching Shinra in the arm and marching along next to him. “Of course I like girls! I-I mean they’re…girls.”

“Uh huh.” Shinra said doubtfully, shooting Izaya a skeptical look. “Tell me one thing you like about women sexually.”

“W-Well there’s their, uh, their…boobs.” Izaya said lamely, wincing a little about how absolutely weak that sounded.

“Riiight.” Shinra snickered, patting Izaya on the back as they reached the door to their classroom. “And yet you turned down Himizu-san when she tried to get you to go out with her, despite the fact that she had _at least_ a triple D. Sure. You’re definitely a boob guy.”

“S-Shut up.” Izaya muttered, cheeks practically burning as he and Shinra walked up to the top seats in the lecture hall, sliding into the empty space on the right side that they always took. “Maybe I like…small boobs.”

“So when Yoko-chan asked you out, the girl known famously for being flat-chested around school, your love of small boobs just wasn’t feeling it?” Shinra sang, plopping down in his seat and propping his head up on a hand, grinning at Izaya mischievously.

“No.” Izaya said coolly, hooking his backpack underneath the desk and sliding into his seat, refusing to look over at his friend. “It wasn’t.”

“Hm.” Shinra hummed in amusement, patting Izaya on his shoulder with a small chuckle. “I don’t mind it, you know. The fact that you’re gay.” He said in a mercifully low voice that only the two of them could hear, causing Izaya’s gaze to slowly turn back to look at him.

Shinra was smiling gently at Izaya, a caring look in the brown eyes that Izaya really didn’t see very often from the usually so goofy boy. “Really.” The future doctor insisted, squeezing Izaya’s shoulder comfortingly. “I think it’s fine. And honestly, you would look much better with a guy than you would with a girl.”

Shinra snickered at something that crossed his mind, the sparkle of amusement returning to his eyes as he grinned at Izaya. “I mean, if you dated a girl that would just be way too much femininity in one place, you know what I’m saying?” He teased, poking at Izaya’s notoriously high cheekbones and feminine facial structure. “Everyone would think you were a lesbian couple and that you just happened to be the tomboy of the relationship!”

“Oh can it!” Izaya snapped, slapping away Shinra’s hand with a glare, carmine eyes flashing. “I do _not_ look that girly!”

“Meh. Depends on who you’re asking.” Shinra shrugged, not even the least bit concerned by the rage in Izaya’s eyes. “Most of the girls here would say you’re the most handsome boy out there. The guys would probably go with most beautiful. I like to think of you as an ambiguously exotic specimen that could swing either way. You’re just all around pretty and attractive.”

“I don’t know whether to be insulted or flattered by your perspective.” Izaya muttered, crossing his arms on his desk and directing his gaze downwards as the teacher walked in. “And can we please drop this for now? The teacher is here.”

“Sure, but can I tell you why I was laughing so hard earlier real quick?” Shinra asked, his eyes sparkling again even as the teacher ordered them to take out their textbooks and turn to the last page they were on.

“Fine.” Izaya sighed, dutifully reaching into his bag and pulling out the pristine book, setting it on the table before him with a thud. “Why were you laughing so hard at my plan?”

“Because in all my years knowing Shizuo-kun,” Shinra began, flipping through his textbook with a little hum, eyes scanning each of the pages to find the correct one. “I’ve never met a single person who would be willing to spend an indefinite amount of time with him in order to seduce him.” 

“I’m not trying to seduce him!” Izaya shrieked, instantly burning bright red as all the students in the nearby seats looked over at him in surprise.

“Orihara-kun?” The teacher called from down below, frowning up at him through her glasses. “Is there something you would like to share with the class about today’s lesson?”

Izaya’s eyes quickly flicked to the board and spotted the name Sigmund Freud under the spot of the ideologist they were comparing their literature piece to that day.

“Yes ma’am. I was just wondering if we were going to incorporate Freud’s seduction theory into the main character’s behavioral hysteria.” He said smoothly. “Since that theory states unconscious memories of sexual abuse as a child leads to the shaping of the mind later on in ways that change the way they view sex and also provides ample cause for various mental disorders including hysteria.”

The teacher smiled brightly up and Izaya, nodding in approval at him and making a few notes on her clipboard to display to the class. “We are indeed going to do that, Orihara-kun. As usual, I am impressed with your ability to connect ideology and literature so effortlessly. Would you like to lead the group discussion on Freud’s principle and our theories for the character’s past today?”

“Of course ma’am. I would love to.” Izaya smiled brightly, praying that the redness of his face wasn’t obvious to the people around him.

The class began to whisper around him about how smart Izaya was, plenty of the students wishing they could understand this stuff so easily, and plenty others (mostly girls) sighing over how wonderful Izaya was.

Izaya released a low breath of relief, shooting Shinra a glare out of the corner of his eye. “You are so lucky I was able to fix that mess.” He hissed, jabbing the skinny doctor in the side.

“How am _I_ the lucky one?” Shinra grinned in amusement, eyes sparkling even as he rubbed his side where Izaya had jabbed him. “You’re the one with the reputation to uphold here, not me.”

“You’re lucky because if my reputation had been tarnished, I would’ve thrown you off the roof of the school.” Izaya said sweetly, fluttering his eyelashes at the boy. “I need followers to perform all my basic social experiments, Shinra.”

Shinra laughed at this, joy once again present in his face. “Ah yes. And I’m sure throwing me off the roof would’ve gained you back all those followers you lost by blurting something embarrassing in class.” He taunted, snickering at the idea.

“I would’ve gotten someone else to do it.” Izaya said casually, pulling out his notebook and starting to copy down when the teacher had written. “It would’ve been easy.”

“Oh, I’m sure it would’ve.” Shinra said cheerfully, not in the least put off by Izaya’s behavior. “But you are definitely trying to seduce Shizuo-kun.”

“I am not!” Izaya argued, glaring at his friend and jabbing him again. “I’m simply trying to see how long someone who seems as stubborn as him who has such an intense dislike of me will take to change his viewpoint. Anger and lust both stem from passion. It’s a perfect set-up.”

“Uh huh.” Shinra snickered, also copying down the teacher’s notes. “But you have to admit that you hold some sexual attraction for him otherwise you wouldn’t even be willing to try this “experiment” on him.”

Izaya stared at Shinra for a few seconds, completely silent. He had no clue what to say to that at all. Because…well damn it! It was true!

“I hate you.” Izaya said flatly, scribbling his notes down with a huff.

“I know.” Shinra sang, unrepentant in any way, shape, or form. “I’m glad you like him so much though, Orihara-kun. You need to increase your social circle beyond me. And Shizuo-kun needs to increase his social circle beyond me as well. You two are lonely, attractive, smart in your own ways, and definitely invested in each other in more ways than one. I think you make a good couple.”

Shinra paused here and looked over at Izaya with a grin. “Once he gets past his obvious hatred of you, of course.”

“Shut up, Shinra.” Izaya muttered, the tips of his ears pink as he tried to focus on the class. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend. I’m just…”

“Trying to make a hot guy like you in a sexual or romantic way?” Shinra finished, giving Izaya a knowing look. “I think that sounds like the first step in looking for a boyfriend, don’t you?”

“Did anyone ask for your opinion, Mr. Completely-Alone-In-His-Romantic-Life?” Izaya responded, finishing up his notes and getting ready to head up to the front of the class to lead the discussion. “I don’t need to hear this from someone who thinks he’s dating a headless woman.”

“You can’t hide from the truth forever, Orihara-kun!” Shinra called after him as he marched down to where the teacher was beckoning him. “And neither can he!”

Izaya dearly resisted the urge to flip his friend off as he came down, but the thought of Shizuo not being able to “hide from the truth forever” as Shinra put it, did bring an unwillingly soft smile to Izaya’s lips. He would forever deny that it had done so, of course. But…it was still there.

Heiwajima Shizuo was going to be filling quite a few of Izaya’s thoughts from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was trying to make the chapters all roughly the same length and for some reason, I got it into my head that Shizuo's point of view had been nine pages long so I was trying to write nine pages worth of Izaya's viewpoint, bringing my count up to eighteen, right? Well, when I was on page seventeen, I looked back at where I had ended Shizuo's viewpoint and realized that it only lasted up to page seven. So I was already three pages longer with Izaya's viewpoint. XD
> 
> Anyways, just a random little thing that happened to me while I was writing this. I hope you guys liked the chapter! Isn't Izaya and Shinra's relationship the best? We go back to Shizuo's viewpoint after this, so stay tuned!
> 
> I'll see you then! <3


	3. The Bitter Beast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! So this chapter is coming out a little earlier than I had planned it to as an apology for uploading late to a different one of my stories. If you guys are here from that story, I'm really sorry for that late upload again! And if you aren't, then I hope you enjoy the slightly early upload!
> 
> As a side note, I'm glad to hear so many people liked Shinra and Izaya's friendship in the last chapter: don't worry, we'll see it again soon! For now, we're heading back into Shizuo's point of view and seeing where his day takes him.
> 
> I'll see you at the end of the chapter! <3

Shizuo spent his lunch break in the same way that he usually did.

He said goodbye to all of his coworkers, he used the back door to get out since it was always hard to pass the blockade of female customers in the front for some reason, and he took the bus to downtown Ikebukuro where his younger brother Kasuka was working part-time as a model for Jack O’Lantern talent agencies, mostly in the magazine department for things like clothes and a few minor products.

Shizuo loved visiting Kasuka at work. His younger brother was a very talented model (just like he tended to be talented at everything else) and it made Shizuo very proud to see him doing so well for himself at such a young age. Sure, it also made Shizuo feel a little guilty that he was doing so poorly and being such a sorry excuse for a role model, but it was still good to see Kasuka when he got the chance.

After all, Shizuo was gone at work pretty much all day and only really returned home later on in the evening when Kasuka was typically hanging out with friends, and Shizuo always went straight to his bedroom and passed out. He didn’t really have much contact with his parents or brother despite the fact that he still lived with them, and it was almost like living in a ghost house for the tall blonde. The fridge and pantry were always stocked, dishes were always washed, things were always clean, but he never saw a single person doing any of these things. If Shizuo ever stopped and gave himself time to think about that, he might admit that it was pretty creepy.

But Shizuo didn’t really stop to think about anything, so that wasn’t a big deal.

As Shizuo sat on the bus and stared out the windows as the scenery rolled by, thinking of what he would say to Kasuka when he saw him today, he could feel a peaceful smile creep over his face. Yes, despite the stupidly annoying morning he’d had that day thanks to the lovely visit from Mr. Perfect, Shizuo’s day was starting to look up. Going to see Kasuka always calmed Shizuo down.

“Heiwajima-kun, this is your stop.” The bus driver announced from the front as the large machine screeched up to a stop, the old man smiling kindly at Shizuo in his mirror. “I’ll see you tomorrow, same time.”

“Yes sir.” Shizuo said politely, smiling back at the man as he waited for the few other people who shared his stop to get off. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The bus driver tipped his hat respectfully to Shizuo, waiting for the blonde to get off before shutting the doors and driving away. Shizuo watched the bus head around the corner with a soft smile, already feeling a little better. He and the driver knew each other pretty well, especially considering how that man always drove this route and Shizuo always took it at the same time. It made Shizuo feel good to know that someone who knew him decently well still liked him. It was one of the few bright points of his day.

But that wasn’t the point right now. Right now he needed to get to Jack O’Lantern and greet his younger brother. Kasuka should be getting off work here shortly and then they would have lunch together before going their separate ways. Shizuo didn’t intend to waste even a second of that time with his younger brother.

Shizuo set off at a brisk pace for the agency, eager to see what project Kasuka was working on now.

Little did he know that when he actually made it to the talent agency, his good mood would be spoiled faster than the milk in Shinra’s fridge.

He walked around the agency building when he reached it, right over to the back entrance where the employees always entered, and headed up to the guard standing there. It was the same guard that Shizuo always saw standing there at lunchtime, another person that Shizuo knew pretty well.

“Hey Shizuo.” The guard at the door nodded his head, shooting Shizuo a friendly smile as he moved to open the door for him. “Here for Kasuka again?”

“Yep. Nothing else here for me.” Shizuo nodded in response, thanking the man for opening the door before slipping inside. “Have a good day.”

“You too.” The guard called after him before shutting the door, returning to his duties without another word.

Their interactions were always short, but that didn’t make Shizuo any less glad about being able to have them. Any person he could find who wasn’t afraid of him was a welcome person to talk to.

Shizuo slipped around the back halls of the building that he knew so well, around all the cameras and bright white screens and technological equipment that marked Jack O’Lantern as the rich agency that it was. He walked past the bright lights illuminating the fancy artwork hung up on the walls and the shiny floors cleaned to perfection underneath his feet, everything looking professional and clean and reeking of money.

Everything, in short, made Shizuo feel like an absolute failure.

That included the preening models littering the areas all around him.

Beautiful women, handsome men, even gorgeous children were running around all over the place, posing in front of cameras with confident smiles and laughs, flashing lights surrounding them as they showed off whatever was adorning their bodies at the time. Some of the other people were actors, aspiring or professionally employed, heading off to other parts of the building to audition for movies and music videos and such. There were a few singers sprinkled here and there, rehearsing for auditions of their own as they walked around to whichever destinations were calling them, voices lovely and prepared for their next undertaking.

Everyone here was gorgeous, talented, and knew what they were doing with their lives.

Shizuo hated it so much.

He felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb, one embarrassingly ugly person walking around in the midst of superior people all around them, dirtying the place just by being there. Awkwardly shuffling around those who moved with grace in all their actions, just trying to get to his brother while everyone else moved with purpose to their next photo shoot, audition, or interview.

This was the one part of his lunch break that brought everything else down. He needed to keep pushing through it. Keep pushing past all the reminders of his failure until he finally got to the reason that he’d come here in the first place.

“Nii-san.” A calm voice called from somewhere off to his left, relaxing the tension in Shizuo’s shoulders immediately.

And there it was.

“Kasuka.” Shizuo said with a smile, turning to the young model as he walked up to Shizuo, trademark flat expression plastered over his face.

Kasuka’s short brown hair was combed to perfection as always, emphasizing his handsome features effortlessly and adding to the overall image of “calm, cool, and collected” that he portrayed. His clothes today were navy blue in theme, with a gray vest set over the dark blue button-up shirt, gray gloves covering his hands, and dark blue pants leading down to black loafers covering his feet. He looked fashionable and confident.

It was why the company loved him.

“It’s good to see you, Nii-san.” Kasuka said calmly, looking up at Shizuo blankly. “How was work this morning?”

“Pretty good.” Shizuo shrugged, trying not to think about it for too long. “Met some annoying bastard who’s apparently one of Shinra’s college friends, but other than that, it was fine.”

Kasuka nodded in acknowledgement of Shizuo’s feelings, pointing briefly in a certain direction before leading Shizuo off into the agency building. “I am sorry for the trouble that you had this morning, Nii-san. But there is actually a friend of mine that I want you to meet as well, today.” 

“Alright.” Shizuo shrugged, following his brother without a second thought. “Any friend of yours is bound to be less annoying than that red-eyed prick.”

Kasuka seemed to pause at this comment, a flicker of uncertainty passing through his gaze as he glanced back at Shizuo. “Red-eyed, Nii-san?” He asked calmly, eyes unreadable.

“Uh, yeah. He had some weird red eyes.” Shizuo responded, frowning as he saw the uncertainty in his brother’s face. “Kinda pretty but…weird. I mean, what kind of eyes are that shade of red?”

“Hm.” Kasuka hummed, turning away from Shizuo and leading him off into the building. “Well, I hope red eyes won’t put you off too much, Nii-san.” He said smoothly, walking right up to the side of another bright white screen, where some other model was posing for pictures. “Because this is the friend I want you to meet.”

Shizuo’s confused gaze slowly slipped away from his brother to land on the model next to them…and he nearly choked on air.

It…it…it couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. The universe didn’t hate him that much, right?! What had Shizuo done to deserve this fresh hell?!

“Beautiful! Now I want another with that expression. Look over to your side this time.” The main photographer ordered the model, gesturing with his hand to where Shizuo and Kasuka were standing.

Oh shit. Oh shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! The guy was going to look over at them. He was going to see Shizuo!

_“Alright be cool, Shizuo. Be cool.”_ Shizuo told himself in his mind as the model’s head slowly turned in their direction. _“Be calm, be cool, be collected. Be like Kasuka. Pretend you don’t even recognize him. Maybe he won’t recognize you. You were just a passing face in his morning, after all. He shouldn’t recognize you.”_

But when the model’s face turned to look at him, and those unique carmine eyes met his, Shizuo knew he was dead wrong.

“Nii-san, this is my new partner.” Kasuka said from beside Shizuo, unaware of Shizuo’s inner turmoil. “We will be working on many of the same magazine covers now and a few other projects as well once he finishes this last shoot. His name is-”

“Orihara Izaya.” Shizuo growled out, the name slipping unbidden from between his lips. “That’s fucking Orihara Izaya.”

Who else could it be? Shizuo had never once met another man as graceful and beautiful as the one lounging in front of a camera right before him, stretching out his body for the world to see. And with those lights illuminating him from all angles, the white screen helping to emphasize his figure in front of the cameras, and the flashes from the cameras themselves lighting his skin in a white glow, Shizuo couldn’t help but notice the grace and beauty himself.

His raven black hair cascaded evenly around his face, an inky waterfall shining against flawless white skin that Shizuo had never thought was possible in a normal human being. Lightly pink lips that looked as soft as silk were set in a seductive smile, bringing a shine to his glittering carmine eyes that contrasted elegantly with the rest of his face. His head was lifted confidently, revealing the high cheekbones and feminine features that made Shizuo honestly doubt the guy’s true gender, a gorgeous throat exposed for Shizuo’s eyes to behold. It led down to delicate collarbones slipping underneath the tight black shirt he was wearing, showing off the subtle curves of his body. His arms were bare, aside from a strange black length of fabric that twisted around them, cutting deep black ribbons over the pale skin. The tight black skinny jeans he had on showed off the lean muscle of his legs, disappearing underneath high black sneakers laced perfectly on his feet. The only hint of color other than black in the gothic-teenager-looking outfit was a white belt that sat sideways over his hips, more for fashion than functionality, drawing Shizuo’s eyes to the way his hips curved his sides almost like a woman’s. No doubt if the perfect model turned around, Shizuo would be treated to a nice view of an even nicer butt.

There was no doubting it or hiding it. Orihara Izaya was beautiful. Gorgeous, even. But every single inch of his lovely perfection made Shizuo’s anger and self-loathing flare up to new heights. Every flawless detail on that smug face made Shizuo all too aware of the ugly details about his own, and every graceful move Izaya made in the air taunted Shizuo about his own clumsy, destructive habits. Everything Izaya did reminded Shizuo of what a pathetic excuse for a human being he was, and threw everything in his face that told him he would never be as good as anyone else. He would never catch up. He was doomed to be a failure.

“I don’t like him.” Shizuo growled, unable to stop himself as those carmine eyes stared at him, exposing every insecurity with their simple pass over his body, the delight that filled them not even registering in the blonde’s mind. “I really don’t like him.”

Kasuka was looking back and forth between Izaya and Shizuo, clearly trying to make the connection between his older brother and his new coworker, realization dawning in his eyes a few seconds later.

“I see. That’s unfortunate.” The blank-faced boy said flatly, looking over at Izaya as he changed positions yet again, facing away from the camera to expose his perfect backside and then turning his head over his shoulder to shoot the photographers a sly smirk. He planted one hip on his hand, throwing his head back with a mischievous grin and holding that pose for a bit before leaning to the other side and crossing his arms in front of his body, twisting slightly as he looked at the camera so it could get the angle of his arms.

“Beautiful!” The main photographer cried again, his counterparts eagerly snapping pictures of the gorgeous man. “Stunning as always, Orihara-san!”

Izaya didn’t respond other than to wink at the man, cameras flashing with a flurry of excitement to catch the look before he turned to face them fully, tipping his head down to the side and tangling his hands in his deep black hair, closing those carmine eyes halfway and parting his lips dramatically.

Shizuo watched each pose with hatred boiling through every vein in his body, wishing he could march over there and slam Izaya’s perfect little head into the ground until it exploded, getting rid of the “stunning” man as soon as possible.

Too perfect. He was too, fucking perfect.

It made Shizuo sick to his stomach.

“Kasuka, I’m going to the bathroom.” Shizuo growled under his breath, spinning on his heel and marching away with the blood pounding in his ears, unable to wait and see what his brother would say in response.

He needed to get away from that damn photo-shoot. He needed to hurl up the lunch he hadn’t even eaten yet in a bathroom stall like the loser he was. He needed to drink away the images of Izaya that were swirling tauntingly, torturously, in the back of his mind.

Every time he squeezed his eyes shut on that march to the bathroom, trying to banish them from his thoughts, they only came back with more clarity, highlighting every flawless feature of Orihara Izaya and comparing it to every fuck-up that created Heiwajima Shizuo.

He hated himself. He hated himself so much. He hated Orihara for making it so obvious how much he hated himself. He hated the universe for doing something like this to him as if seeing his brother in a place like this every day wasn’t enough. He hated that he was too stupid to go to college while his only friend was off having the time of his life becoming a doctor. He hated it. He hated everything.

Shizuo kicked open the door to the bathroom, storming inside and slamming his hands against the porcelain sink, the delicate material cracking and crumbling beneath his powerful grip. But he didn’t care about the way he was destroying someone else’s property on accident yet again. He’d done it so many times, the feeling of guilt was already second nature and hardly needed to be brought up again.

He was a monster, after all. A hideous, stupid, pathetic, worthless monster.

Shizuo glared at his reflection in the mirror, disgusting by the fake blonde hair lying like a coarse mop on his head. The harsh eyes that scared everyone away once they saw them like this. The thin scars marring his stupid face as evidence of his aggressive childhood. The tense jaw that made it seem like he was always on the verge of attacking someone or something. He was filthy and disgusting.

“Why?” Shizuo muttered, his fingers trembling in the crumbling porcelain they were still clutching even as it fell through his fingers to the ground. “Why?”

But the mirror only stared back at him, his ugly reflection watching him just as accusingly as the gazes of those around him whenever they witnessed his destruction.

“WHY?!” Shizuo screamed when no answer came, the deep roar echoing through the bathroom and probably scaring the shit out of anyone unlucky enough to be in there with the monster.

He pitied them for having to be near him. He pitied Kasuka for having a brother like him, and his parents for having a son like him. He was a mistake. 

And compared to Mr. Perfect, his image still swirling around in Shizuo’s mind like a phantom of the person he could never be, he was worse than just a simple mistake.

He was utterly pointless trash.

As Shizuo stared at his reflection, wishing that by smashing the mirror into pieces he could smash all his problems into pieces with it, he knew he had to leave. He couldn’t stay in the modeling agency today. He’d skip lunch and just work an extra shift at the café. 

That was all he was really good for anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Shizuo. He has so many self-esteem issues. ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚
> 
> So how exactly is Izaya going to get close to someone who only ends up hating himself each time he sees him? No one knows! I guess we'll have to find out in the coming chapters.
> 
> Next time we'll see Izaya's view on things and find out what he does in response to seeing Shizuo at his own part-time job.
> 
> Hope to see you there! Bye! <3


	4. The Monochromatic Model

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! Sorry this is coming so late in the month. I really couldn't find the time to write in between midterms and some issues with switching my major that I won't get into for the sake of retaining my sanity! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
> 
> Anywho, I'm really thrilled about how much positive reception this story has been getting so far! A lot of you seem really excited for the coffee shop portion of this AU, and I'm super happy about that. Don't worry - we'll be getting more coffee shop scenes here soon once we get out of these next few scenes at the modeling agency. I hope you still enjoy them!
> 
> Again, sorry for the long wait. Here's the chapter! I'll see you at the end! <3

Izaya spent his free time between classes in the same way that he usually did.

It was typically a hassle, having to walk all the way off campus and then take a fifteen minute train ride downtown just to get to a part-time job, but after what felt like endless hours of Shinra’s poking and prodding about his (apparently fascinating) sexual orientation, Izaya had been more than happy to run away for an hour or two.

He took the bus line that ran outside his college, relaxing in the general quiet of the public transportation device. There were just a few voices in the back from a mother trying to hush her complaining child and two high school girls chattering to each other about some club activities they had planned, but the rest of the patrons were silent like Izaya, lost in their phones or books or thoughts.

Izaya stared out at the foliage blurring by his window, pondering what the next few hours of his life would be like.

He’d just taken this part-time job a little while ago. Only a small something to help pay his bills and tuition. In fact, he’d barely worked six hours a week doing this gig before – practically not even long enough to call it a part-time job – and he’d never even considered pursuing it further.

But he’d gotten a call yesterday about increasing his hours and his paycheck, moving into larger projects with the Jack O’Lantern company, including a partnership with one of their more famous models. Supposedly, the company was thinking about putting this model in one of their acting divisions soon – real blockbuster movies and shows – but they wanted to make sure he could work with other people first before they did so. After all, his general attitude when he wasn’t on camera was…a little odd, to put it mildly.

That was where Izaya was supposed to come in.

If Izaya – the ever so perfect, friendly, wonderful, talented, dashing new model of theirs – could get along with this Kasuka person, then Kasuka was all set to move into the film business. Clearly, his ability to interact with one person for a few hours a week qualified him to interact with a whole crew of people nearly twenty-four seven for months on end.

Yeah. That made sense.

But Izaya would only have to work about two to three extra hours each week and his pay rate was more than doubling, so who was he to complain?

And he’d chatted with Kasuka before in passing, mostly on their ways to photo shoot areas and occasionally the lunchroom if they had breaks at the same time. The guy spoke very formally and in an _exceptionally_ dull voice, but he seemed easy enough to work with. Izaya was more than willing to take the job.

But shortly after he arrived, ready to finish up his last photo shoot with one of the clothing lines before he started work with Kasuka…something crazy happened.

He’d turned to the side as the cameras flashed, ready to show off another angle of the new clothes he was wearing, and his eyes had landed on a tall blonde man, standing over to the side of the room. The tall blonde man was watching Izaya with an unreadable expression in his golden-brown eyes, fists clenched tightly at his sides, muscles tensed up beneath a Firefly Brew uniform that Izaya had seen for the first time just this morning. The man had almost looked like he wanted to run away, but he was staying in place nevertheless, watching Izaya.

Their eyes met, and Izaya knew without a doubt that both of them had recognized each other, despite Izaya’s different appearance from when he’d gone into the little café a few hours ago that the man worked at.

Shizuo Heiwajima. The hottest man Izaya had ever met. Shizuo was suddenly watching him work his body in front of a dozen flashing lights, done up with his best make-up, dressed to kill, and smiling his best smile.

Could life have set the situation up any better than this?

It was perfect! All Izaya had to do was show off to the angry man for a couple minutes, really put himself into these next few shots, and his plan to seduce Shizuo – er, his social experiment to twist Shizuo’s anger into attraction – would be underway!

Yes, the situation was perfect…except for one minor detail.

Shizuo left.

Izaya stared after Shizuo in confusion, his head tipped down to the side with his fingers in his hair, gaze flicked up subtly so he could watch the blonde’s stiff back as he left. What? What was going on? Hadn’t Shizuo found him attractive? Hadn’t he been watching Izaya with the same level of rapture as everyone always did?

It made no sense. Why would he just leave like that?

Or maybe…Izaya wasn’t his type?

Izaya thought numbly about this for several seconds as he switched positions yet again, planting his hands on his hips and smirking at the camera, although his heart really wasn’t in it anymore.

Why wouldn’t Shizuo like him? Izaya knew perfectly well that he was a pretty attractive male. He’d converted more men than he could count to the gay side of life, and Shizuo should be no different. The man was a protozoan monster that ran on emotions and adrenaline, for the love of humanity! His base emotion was rage and rage was one of the most passion-filled feelings out there. Converting it to desire should be a cake-walk.

Izaya turned his body to the side to allow the photographers a new angle, mind racing with reasons and possibilities as to why Shizuo had left.

Did he just not care about how good Izaya looked? Did he honestly not find Izaya attractive at all? Did Izaya’s clothing turn him off? Was he just uncomfortable with all the flashing lights and people? Or maybe…he’d been disgusted by what he’d seen.

Izaya had caught a glimpse of Shizuo’s face as the blonde had left. As usual, it looked angry. But it was a different kind of anger. It looked more like _loathing_ than the annoyance and frustration that Izaya had seen before. A keen, deep loathing for whatever he’d seen. There was a sense of disgust and revulsion in those golden-brown eyes, the more Izaya thought of them, and that created a sinking feeling in Izaya’s gut that he refused to acknowledge.

Perhaps…Shizuo was disgusted by him. Perhaps he was looking at Izaya’s modeling and thinking he was selling his body like some kind of whore. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had thought that after seeing Izaya work or hearing about what he did. After all, Jack O’Lantern liked to put him in the skimpier clothing lines or the more edgy fashion designs. Izaya’s body made them work. His facial expressions matched the mood they were going for. He really did look…like some kind of whore.

Izaya felt a pang in his chest that he immediately shook off, grinning at the camera over his shoulder as he slowly ran his fingers through his hair.

No. No, that was just ridiculous. Izaya did _not_ look like a whore. He was just an attractive male modeling some slightly out-of-the-box clothing. Just because Shizuo was disgusted by it didn’t mean a thing. Izaya didn’t need Shizuo’s approval. No matter what that small, aching hole in his chest said.

_“Shake it off, Izaya. You’re better than this.”_ Izaya told himself, taking a single deep breath that no one could see and finishing off his poses with both hands on his hips, a confident stance aimed right at the camera, and a self-righteous smirk that screamed of his superiority plastered all over his face.

He was better than this, Izaya told himself as the cameras flashed eagerly around, photographers screaming their usual words of praise and appreciation. He was a successful psychology student at a fantastic college, a top-of-the-line model, someone who was steadily moving up the ranks in their job position, and he was independent and self-sufficient. He didn’t need Shizuo’s approval.

He didn’t care about it. He didn’t care about what Shizuo thought of him at all.

The man was just a social experiment.

_“Screw you, Shizuo.”_ Izaya thought in his mind, nodding his head despite himself to help reaffirm the statement. _“If you don’t like me like this, then screw you. You aren’t better than me. And if you think you are, just wait a few years and we’ll see which one of us is doing better in life.”_

Yes. Confrontation and confidence was much better than wallowing in self-pity or self-doubt, any day of the week. He didn’t know why he was letting Shizuo’s rejection get to him so much. Normally, things like this wouldn’t bother him at all.

“Alright Izaya. That’s all we’ve got for you for today. You’re free to go.” One of the modeling directors called, urging the photographers to turn their cameras off and leave Izaya alone now since the raven’s shift was officially over. 

Izaya bowed in respect to the man, walking away from the white screen and ignoring the cameras still flashing after him, heading for the changing room at top speed.

His social experiment wasn’t going to change because of this little hiccup. He was determined, now more than ever, to sway that stupid protozoan over to his side. He’d even make that idiotic jerk fall in love with him if he had to, and then crush his pathetic heart into the ground. Yep. That sounded nice.

“I don’t care what you think of me, Shizuo.” Izaya muttered to himself as he reached the changing room, dropping all the honorifics for Shizuo’s name as easily as dropping something rotten into the trash can. “I’m going to seduce you and crush you, you jerk. Just wait and see.”

The changing room was a large room tucked away in Jack O'Lantern's modeling department building that contained all of the modeling outfits that weren't currently in use, being wheeled out on gleaming racks from model to model for them to try on. Since the models didn't really care about changing in front of each other - something many of them had done several times at fashion shows - and since Jack O'Lantern was too cheap to actually install real changing rooms, the models just changed their clothes in there once they were done with their shifts, using the many mirrors scattered about the room for reference if they wanted to.

There were little cupboards in the walls that the models kept their regular clothes tucked away in like school lockers, and each of them had their own designated cupboard that no one else touched, usually marked by a name-tag or a sticker of some kind that the models put on them. Izaya's cupboard had his name painted in traditional calligraphy along the side and a large sticker of a black cat placed in its center. It was in the back corner of the changing room, next to one of the largest mirrors and a rack of Halloween-themed costumes that they were going to start modeling in October. Izaya liked his little corner. Not a lot of people came into it, so he was pretty much guaranteed some alone-time while changing and despite the open-changing attitude he was supposed to hold as a model, he didn't really like the idea of stripping down in front of other people. That wasn't the job he'd signed up for, thank you very much. 

Izaya opened his little cupboard in the back, pulling out his Rikkyo University uniform and polished black loafers, humming as he set them on the floor before him.

He swiftly changed out of the tight black outfit he was wearing, throwing it all into a hamper laying on the floor beside him, except for the white belt which he tucked into an accessory rack by his head. Then he picked up his school uniform, slipping into the looser black fabric that somehow still managed to conform to his curves, deftly tying the striped silver and black tie around his neck, and readjusting the gold and red patch on his chest displaying the insignia of the university. He stepped into his shining black loafers and dusted off the straight black pants last, marveling at how much of the clothing he wore was black.

It was like the universe was determined to drown him in funeral colors and shadows. Not that Izaya minded; black was one of his best colors and he far preferred darker things to their lighter counterparts. But still, he did wonder what he would look like in a white uniform or modeling outfit from time to time.

“I think pink would serve your complexion better.” A flat voice said from right behind him, startling Izaya out of his thoughts.

He jumped in place and spun around, eyes wide and heart pounding in his chest, as his carmine gaze landed on one of the flattest expressions he’d ever seen in his life. Dead eyes stared at him from an expressionless face, completely unreadable with all emotions drained from every inch of it. The stare was unblinking and unchanging, more like the stare of a serial killer than a curious passerby with a good-intentioned suggestion, and it didn’t exactly help the man look any more welcoming. His body posture was slack and placid, a robot that had been shut down and plopped in place behind Izaya for the sole purpose of scaring the life out of him.

Despite all these creepy factors of the man’s sudden appearance, Izaya immediately relaxed once he took them all in, recognizing who the serial killer giving him fashion tips was.  
“Heiwajima-san.” He breathed out a sigh, slumping in relief against the wall behind him. “You freaked me out.”

“Clearly.” Kasuka said flatly, watching Izaya with those unreadable eyes. “I apologize for doing so.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Izaya assured him, waving a dismissive hand in the air as he pushed himself off the wall and turned to the mirror beside him, fixing his slightly disheveled tie with a low hum. “It was only a momentary thing. Did you need something?”

“Not in particular. I simply wished to speak to you.” Kasuka said smoothly, his reflection staring unblinking over Izaya’s shoulder in the mirror as Izaya fixed his tie. “In regards to what happened a few minutes ago during your photo shoot.”

Izaya frowned at that, pausing briefly in his adjustment as his carmine eyes flicked to meet Kasuka’s in the mirror. “What do you mean?” He asked tersely, feeling a slight chill run down his back as that flat stare bored right into him.

He watched the mirror, not daring to turn around as Kasuka approached him from behind, never breaking eye contact with his reflection as he stopped right behind Izaya, barely two inches from his back. Izaya could feel the heat of Kasuka’s skin radiating through his uniform, and he could hear the soft breaths coming from his fellow model as Kasuka leaned forward, his lips brushing the shell of Izaya’s ear.

“My older brother, Shizuo.” Kasuka said in a low voice, the flat tone crawling into Izaya’s ear like a snake as the warmth of Kasuka’s closeness buzzed over his body. “He saw you and seemed upset. He also knew who you were. Do you and him have any…bad blood?”

The way Kasuka paused and weighted the words “bad blood” made Izaya wonder if there was a possibility of something more behind that phrase than Kasuka was willing to let on. Had Shizuo been a part of a gang a few years ago? Did he have enemies coming after him or something? Izaya wouldn’t doubt it based on the guy’s anger management issues and delinquent appearance.

…Well crud. Now he was curious about Shizuo’s past. What could he have done to warrant this kind of suspicion from his younger brother whenever he came across someone he didn’t like? It was a tempting subject to pursue.

But Izaya couldn’t focus on that right now. He needed to alleviate Kasuka’s concerns about his relationship with Shizuo, or it might be the end of the line for his future partnership and promotion.

“No, we just met this morning.” Izaya said breezily, finishing up with his tie and turning his attention now to his patch, adjusting that as calmly as he could with the stoic-faced boy literally breathing down his neck. “At the coffee shop he works in. I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot somehow. He didn’t seem to like me very much. But beyond that, we have no past history together whatsoever.”

Kasuka watched Izaya’s face for several seconds as if judging his honesty, eventually humming in satisfaction with the answer and nodding his head. He remained where he was behind Izaya though, his presence still far too close to Izaya’s body for comfort.

“I see.” The flat-faced boy said, his warm breath sending goosebumps over Izaya’s skin. “I apologize for thinking otherwise. Nii-san has something of a short temper and it can cause occasional problems.”

“So I’ve figured.” Izaya said coolly, dropping his hands to his sides and staring at his reflection, resisting the itch to move around in place like a cooped-up bird as Kasuka remained right where he was, watching Izaya in the mirror. “He seems like the kind of man who has issues controlling his emotions.”

“That is correct.” Kasuka responded, gaze unchanged. “I hope this won’t cause problems in our partnership. Nii-san often likes to visit me while I’m working and I would hate it if he got into a fight with my new co-worker while he visited.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem.” Izaya chirped, silently thinking about his plan to seduce the man into falling in love with him. “Not unless he starts one.”

Kasuka nodded in understanding again, still not moving from his spot. “Thank you for answering my questions, Orihara-san.” He said flatly, their eyes locking in the mirror. “I hope we have a long partnership ahead of us.”

Izaya wasn’t sure how he felt about that phrase. He wasn’t getting any creepy stalker-vibes from Kasuka, nor a sign of attraction and lust despite the model’s close proximity to him. But with the emotionless face this guy had, it might be hard to tell if the man was genuinely aroused by something or if he truly had no interest in it whatsoever. That phrase could be taken platonically, as a wish for a good working dynamic between the two…or it could be something else that Izaya had absolutely no interest in.

He honestly wasn’t sure.

But he decided to just give Kasuka the benefit of the doubt here. He was an emotionless weirdo who probably wasn’t interested in Izaya at all. He probably liked girls, just like the majority of the men in this tiny country. No need to worry about unwelcome advances. Yet.

“Me as well, Heiwajima-san.” Izaya said smoothly, smiling at Kasuka’s reflection in the mirror. “Although hopefully we can start that partnership off with a little bit more space between us?”

The tiniest hint of a smile flickered like a ghost over Kasuka’s face before the model nodded and stepped away from Izaya, finally allowing him room to breathe once more.  
Izaya nodded in thanks to his co-worker, hoping his relief didn’t show as plainly on his face as he thought it did, and turned around, ready to leave the changing room, head back to his apartment, and eat his lunch in the privacy of his room.

A bit of a wrench got thrown into those plans however as he and Kasuka exited the changing room together.

“Would you like to dine with my brother and me today, Orihara-san?” Kasuka asked flatly, both of them pausing just outside the room. “I have a spare lunch with me in case you need one.”

Izaya glanced at his new partner, the unfeeling man staring back without a care, trying to figure out what he should do.

Turning down his co-worker on the first real day of their partnership probably wasn’t the best idea for a good working relationship. But he wanted more time to establish his next strategy before seeing Shizuo again. His school uniform wasn’t exactly the best thing to wear to make a man swoon for him. He needed time! 

But if he wanted to build up his relationship with Kasuka, then now was the perfect time.

So which was more important: building a good working relationship or successfully seducing the blonde he wasn’t supposed to care about?

…

Curse his impeccable logic.

“Of course. I’d love to join you.” Izaya smiled dazzlingly, praying this wouldn’t come back to bite him later. “Would my uniform be acceptable for the occasion?”

“It’s a simple lunch. Nii-san often shows up in his work clothes.” Kasuka replied calmly. “You may wear whatever you like. Although if you do change your clothes…” His eyes flickered a little bit here, almost looking meaningful as he stared into Izaya’s carmine gaze. “I really would select some kind of light pink shirt. Nii-san likes cute things.”

Izaya blinked in shock at that statement and opened his mouth to say something (what exactly, he wasn’t sure) but Kasuka brushed past him and began heading off towards one of the break rooms without a glance back.

“We eat together in the third break room.” The emotionless boy called over his shoulder. “If I were you, I’d dress up cutely so I wouldn’t upset Nii-san further. That’s all.”

Izaya stared after Kasuka in bafflement, watching the stoic boy vanish around the corner without a trace.

Was that really all? Was it? Because it had honestly sounded like he was trying to hook Izaya up with his brother two seconds ago. Despite the fact that he’d practically been grinding on Izaya in the changing room just two minutes before _that_.

What was wrong with the Heiwajima family?

Izaya shook his head, trying to get thoughts of the strange boy and his strange suggestions out of his head. He didn’t need another Heiwajima clogging up his thoughts. He still had classes to pass and plots to hatch. He didn’t have time for any more distractions.

Still…

Izaya looked back at the changing room, thinking of all the different modeling outfits that were in there, waiting for the models to use them for various photo shoots and videos. They were free to grab at any point, and as long as you didn’t leave the building with them, there wasn’t a problem.

“Dress up cutely, huh?” Izaya murmured aloud, a certain outfit he’d seen a few weeks ago slowly popping into his mind. “Well…only to diffuse the situation, of course. Can’t have Shizuo getting mad at me in front of his brother, now can we?”

Izaya looked down at his black school uniform, taking in the usual monochromatic colors that established so much of his daily wardrobe. Dress up cutely.

Izaya sighed, yanking open the door to the changing room and stepping back inside.

“I hope no one gets any pictures of this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Shizuo and Izaya. They always seem to have misunderstandings with each other. And I guess we'll have to wait and see if Kasuka is an enemy to the ship or a supporter of it. Dun dun duuuh!
> 
> Well, if we don't have Kasuka supporting it, we still always have Shinra. Never forget that! And don't worry - for those of you who loved the Shinra-Izaya dynamic, we'll be seeing more of Shinra in just a few chapters. (*^▽^*)
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! The next one will come out in November, hopefully towards the middle of the month or middle-end instead of the very end like it did this time. XD Thanks again for waiting so patiently for this update!
> 
> I'll see you all next month! Bye! <3


	5. The Pastel Problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I hope you guys are ready for the next part of this nonsense! XD Let's see what happens with these two dorks when they try to get along for a few minutes. It...doesn't exactly turned out like we would've hoped.
> 
> I actually have a question for you guys involving updates for this story. But I'll ask you at the end so you can get to the story. I'll see you at the end of the chapter! <3

Shizuo hadn’t expected to run into his brother outside of the bathroom. He would’ve thought that Kasuka had some kind of business to attend to outside of his pathetic elder brother. Kasuka should’ve gone off to do something important and left his brother to wallow alone and sneak out while no one was watching.

He should’ve known that Kasuka knew him better than that.

Shizuo looked down at his brother, and his brother looked up at him, face as flat and expressionless as always.

“I was going to come right back to have lunch with you.” Shizuo lied, his face beginning to feel hot under the intense pressure of his little brother’s eyes.

“No you weren’t.” Kasuka said calmly. “But you are now. Let’s go.”

Shizuo grumbled a little bit about annoying little brothers but begrudgingly followed the future-actor through the modeling agency building, wishing he’d left before Kasuka had come to find him. He couldn’t run out while his little brother was with him. It just wouldn’t feel right to him. And Kasuka knew that all too well.

Conniving bastard.

Still…Kasuka’s efforts to keep Shizuo sane and interacting with other human beings managed to bring a smile (even if it was just a slight one) to Shizuo’s face, and lift some of the dark emotions clouding his heart away for a short while.

They reached the third break room where they always ate, Kasuka sliding his employee ID card through the lock and letting them both in, holding the door open for Shizuo while Shizuo walked over to one of the few tables scattered in the break room and claimed it. The fluorescent lighting flicked on overhead due to the movement as Kasuka walked over to a line of gray lockers on the right side of the room, using his ID to open one of the lockers over there, too.

Inside the locker were two bento boxes, one packed with a lunch for Shizuo and the other for Kasuka. Kasuka grabbed them both, shutting his locker with his shoulder and strolling casually over to the tiny table Shizuo had picked in the corner of the room. He set both lunches down and pulled over a chair for himself to the table…actually…he pulled over _two_?

“Kasuka.” Shizuo said with a frown, staring in confusion at the empty chair resting in the space between he and Kasuka as Kasuka settled into his seat across from Shizuo. “Why is there another chair here?”

“You’ll see.” Was Kasuka’s only reply, the emotionless boy unwrapping his bento box with deft precision and gesturing for Shizuo to unwrap his as well. “Go ahead. I know you’re hungry.”

Despite his confusion about the extra chair, Shizuo shrugged and grabbing his lunch, unwrapping it eagerly to see what their mother had made for them both.

Inside he found a nice serving of rice, some pickled vegetables, a small rolled omelet, and a side of salad tucked into the corner. In the second hidden layer of the box he could see the sweet peaches and mochi dessert that his mother had thrown in for him. She still remembered his sweet tooth, even though he hadn’t seen her in what felt like months.

Shizuo smiled at the gesture from his parent, slipping the travel chopsticks out of the bento box lid, and preparing himself to eat alongside Kasuka, who had a very similar meal (minus the sweet desserts hidden at the bottom – he had pickled plums instead).

Both of them had just begun saying the customary line to thank their mother for preparing the food, when a soft knock sounded on the break room door.

Immediately, Kasuka set down his chopsticks and rushed to the door, face giving away nothing as usual while Shizuo sat there in utter confusion. Was someone at the door? Was Kasuka expecting them? Had Kasuka… _invited_ someone to eat lunch with them?

That made no sense. They always ate lunch alone together, just the two of them. Kasuka would’ve told Shizuo beforehand if he’d planned on inviting someone to give Shizuo either ample time to emotionally prepare for it or to prepare an excuse as to why he could no longer come (more than likely, he’d pick the second option).

What was going on?

Shizuo turned in his seat to face the door as Kasuka opened it, greeting someone politely with the ghost of a smile on his lips as he looked that person up and down, stepping aside to let them enter the room.

Okay, so they were some kind of friend of Kasuka’s that he’d invited. Who was it? Did Shizuo know them? And why did Shizuo have such a weird, fluttery feeling in his stomach, like he’d eaten something funny when he hadn’t even touched a bite of food yet?

There was a smell in the air, a very certain smell that felt so familiar to Shizuo as his heart pounded in his chest, golden-brown eyes locked on the door to see who was coming through. He felt like he knew who it was. He was denying it inside his mind, but in his gut, he somehow already knew.

Then the figure stepped into the room itself, surveyed its surroundings carefully and hesitantly, eventually locking eyes with Shizuo, and the world itself stopped.

It was Izaya. Shizuo had known that from the moment the raven had walked in, or maybe even before that. He felt like even though he’d seen the slim man for the first time barely a few hours ago, he’d already be able to pick him out of a crowd of hundreds of people, fifteen miles away.

But this…this was a different Izaya from the monochromatic model of perfection Shizuo was used to seeing.

This Izaya was pastel.

He was wearing a light, cherry-blossom pink sweater that stopped exactly at his wrists and waist, its sleeves patterned with tiny diamond-shaped holes that ran across the top of his arms, exposing the pale skin underneath. His pants were spotless white leggings, tucked inside of pale pink winter boots lined with tufts of soft fuzz. He had a single pink flower clip pinning some of his deep black bangs away from his face, making it look more honest and open. And when his eyes met Shizuo’s, Shizuo could see the light dusting of pink he’d added to the top of his eyelids that somehow made his carmine eyes seem gentler than they usually did.

Overall he looked…ridiculously cute.

How was it possible for someone to look vomit-inducingly attractive one minute and cute and unassuming the next? The magic of models, Shizuo supposed. They could make anything look good and natural on them.

But despite Izaya’s outward perfection, Shizuo could see some tension in the smile he sent Shizuo’s way. He could see anxiety in the soft carmine eyes, and his slender fingers kept twitching at his sides like they wanted to grab something for protection. He was nervous about coming in here, and joining Kasuka and Shizuo. He hid it very well, and Shizuo probably would’ve missed it if he hadn’t been glaring and scowling with a microscopic gaze of hatred from the second Mr. Perfect walked in the door. But it was there. Undeniably.  
And it was that imperfection, that anxiety in Izaya’s otherwise flawless face, which stopped him from picking up the table right then and there and chucking it at the small man with all the strength in his body. That kept his anger to a light growl and a dark scowl instead of physical violence.

Izaya was unsure of himself, too. Just like Shizuo.

That didn’t make Shizuo feel exactly better about being unsure _and_ a failure, whereas this guy at least managed to be successful, but it was something. He could try to be a little civil because of that.

“What the hell are you doing here, you bastard?” Shizuo snarled, his fists clenching on the table as he glared with all his might at the smiling, pink raven.

Okay…so civility wasn’t working out too well. It was the thought that counted.

“I’m here to eat lunch.” Izaya replied breezily, brandishing a black bento box Shizuo hadn’t noticed before in his hands and nodding his head at Kasuka. “Heiwajima-san invited me.”

“You can call me ‘Kasuka’, if you’d like.” Kasuka said flatly, walking past Izaya to sit back down with Shizuo. “It’ll get too confusing otherwise with two Heiwajimas in the room.”

“Or I could come up with a nice nickname for Shizuo-kun besides just Shizuo-kun to set him even further apart from you.” Izaya purred with a smile, sliding gracefully into the third chair Kasuka had pulled over and setting his lunch down on the table.

Shizuo growled in response to that sentence, glaring at Izaya while he calmly unwrapped his bento. “Don’t you fucking dare.” He threatened darkly, pointing his chopsticks harshly at the unconcerned raven. “I’ll murder you if you do.”

“No you won’t.” Izaya laughed brightly. “You’d have to catch me in order to murder me!”

“You don’t think I could?” Shizuo snapped, hatred boiling in his veins along with something else. “Just try me!”

“Maybe I will.” Izaya said slyly, shooting Shizuo a quick smirk before giving his own thanks for his meal and popping a bite of rice into his mouth. “It’d certainly be more interesting than having you stare at me all day.”

“I’m not staring!” Shizuo yelled in protest, his cheeks flaming despite themselves at the accusation. It was from rage, he told himself. Obviously.

“Oh? You’re not?” Izaya asked in mock surprise, looking up at Shizuo with falsely widened eyes. “My mistake then. I assumed that when people’s eyes locked on other things for extended periods of time, that was known as ‘staring’. Perhaps I was wrong.”

Shizuo growled again, so tempting to go back on his initial reaction to Izaya’s appearance and flip the table right at him, nervousness or not. This piece of shit needed to go die in a hole somewhere.

“Let’s talk about something nicer, shall we?” Kasuka cut in flatly, giving Izaya an oddly pointed look for some reason. “How about some of our interests? Maybe we can find common ground in the things we like.”

“I doubt I have the same tastes as a protozoan.” Izaya said instantly, popping something else into his mouth. “But it would be fun to see.”

“Prissy Princess.” Shizuo muttered under his breath, trying to ignore the graceful crane of Izaya’s neck as he chatted with his brother. Man, he wanted to snap that neck so badly.

“Nii-san. You start.” Kasuka said out of nowhere, looking across the table at Shizuo without emotion.

“Huh?” Shizuo blinked in shock, chopsticks frozen in the air halfway to his mouth. “Me?”

“Yes you.” Kasuka said calmly, taking his own bite of food and nodding encouragingly at him. “Tell us something you like or like to do.”

“I don’t know.” Shizuo muttered, hating the embarrassment he was feeling from being put on the spot like that. He wasn’t good at coming up with things without advance warning. Kasuka knew that! Why was he trying to make Shizuo look like more of an idiot than he already was?

“Think of something.” Kasuka pressed, and Shizuo scowled, his eyes darting nervously around the room for inspiration.

“I, uh…” He mumbled, golden orbs darting over plain lockers, chairs, and tables uselessly, his brain not finding anything at all to catch his interest. “I like…” His eyes finally landed on the pastel raven beside him, head cocked slyly to the side with a slight smile on his pinkish lips, those weirdly soft eyes watching him…fondly?

It had to be the make-up making his eyes look like that. There was no way Izaya was staring at Shizuo with a fond expression on his face. They barely knew each other. Still, seeing Izaya sitting there in his weirdly cute outfit gave Shizuo something to say.

“I like cute stuff.” He blurted out before he could doubt himself, staring down hard at his food and shoveling another bite of it roughly into his mouth. Hopefully, Izaya wouldn’t look into the reason Shizuo had only come up with that after seeing him. The blonde refused to admit, on any level of human communication, that he thought Izaya was cute right now. No way.

There was silence at the table for a few seconds. It made Shizuo extremely nervous. Did he sound like a weirdo for liking cute things? Was Izaya going to take it the wrong way and assume Shizuo was some kind of pedophile who liked children? Or a girly man whose room was secretly decorated in pink sparkles and shit? Or maybe he thought Shizuo was some kind of cross-dresser who liked wearing dresses and frilly skirts when no one was looking. Oh God, there were so many horrible ways Izaya could take that statement. Why had that been the only thing Shizuo could’ve come up with? Why was he so stupid?!

Shizuo’s gaze flicked up briefly towards Izaya to see what his reaction was, dread curling in the pit of his stomach. He fully expected to see a look of disgust or horror on that perfect face, a look he was used to seeing as a result of his freakish strength, but now for an entirely different reason. There was going to be some form of rejection on Izaya’s face as a result of Shizuo’s oddness. He could feel it.

But Shizuo’s expectations were quickly shot down as soon as he registered the look on the raven’s face. There was a light blush on Izaya’s cheeks right then, almost as if he were embarrassed or shy, matching the pink makeup he’d put on his eyes. The model tried to hide it immediately once he noticed Shizuo’s eyes on him, covering one cheek subtly with his hand and turning his head so Shizuo couldn’t see the other one. But there had definitely been a blush there. 

What?

“I’m not that big a fan of cute things.” Izaya announced to the room, still refusing to turn back to Shizuo as he hid his face. “But…a few are acceptable every now and then.”

“See? Common ground.” Kasuka said, the ghost of a smile flickering over his lips as he turned to Izaya. “Now you say something.”

Izaya’s hand slowly lowered from his face, revealing his pale, blush-free skin as he cleared his throat, ready to speak.

“Well,” He began, carmine eyes flicking over to meet with Shizuo’s. “I like new things.”

“New things?” Kasuka repeated, thinking about that for a few seconds. “Like shiny and expensive sort of new?”

“Those are nice too, but no.” Izaya said with a smile, his gaze still never leaving Shizuo’s. Shizuo felt trapped in that knowing carmine gaze. Like the college student had total control over his body and was refusing to let it escape the electric net he had cast over it.

“I mean new things that I’ve never seen before or expected to see. New styles. New attitudes. New places. New food. New people.” His tone dipped a little lower when he listed off the last one, dropping almost into a seductive purr as his dark eyelashes lowered suggestively at Shizuo.

Shizuo felt a weird thrill run through his body at the look, immediately tamping it down before it could become a problem. This stupidly cute model was trying to mess with him. Shizuo could see that. Well, he wasn’t going to fall for a silky voice and some pretty eyes, thank you very much.

“Sounds great.” Shizuo said roughly, pointedly ignoring the raven as he stared at his food, taking another overly-harsh bite. “Moving on. Kasuka, something you like?”

“Modeling and acting. Next.” Kasuka answered bluntly, not giving either of them even half a second to respond before turning the spotlight back on Shizuo.

“Mom’s cooking.” Shizuo managed to mumble, his face getting hot from the stares directed at it as he ate another bite of rice. “Next.”

“Sausages.” Izaya said in a sing-song voice, nearly causing Shizuo to choke on said rice as he pounded on his chest, gaping at Izaya in shock.

The raven was watching him with a wicked glint in his eyes, holding up a piece of sausage from his lunch. “What? I was just talking about the sausage here.” He said innocently, slowly putting it into his mouth. The suggestive shape of the sausage and the way Izaya’s pink lips wrapped around it made his message all too clear.

“Bullshit.” Shizuo managed to get out before averting his eyes, fidgeting in place as the thrill in his body grew a little more. “You’re just a pervert.”

“Shizuo-kun is the one thinking with the dirty mind.” Izaya replied, a little giggle in his words making it clear he’d been thinking exactly the same thing. “All I want to do is eat my lunch.”

“Bullshit.” Shizuo said again, face flaming as he intentionally avoided the small rolled omelet he’d been saving for a while now. It was shaped too much like Izaya’s sausage for him to be comfortable eating it right now.

“Watching you two.” Came Kasuka’s flat voice, and it took a few seconds for Shizuo to remember that they were currently saying things they liked.

He shot his little brother a glare, but the emotionless boy merely shrugged, gesturing at Shizuo to indicate that it was his turn once again.

“Punching people who annoy me.” The blonde growled, driving his fist into his palm none-too-suggestively, golden glare locked on his brother. “Man, I _love_ doing that.”

Kasuka merely smiled at that, turning to Izaya again. “Nii-san likes punching annoying people. Now it’s your turn.” He said smoothly, completely ignoring the threat in Shizuo’s words.

Sometimes Shizuo worried about how desensitized Kasuka was to the threats and dangers that surrounded him. It made him wonder about what would happen if Kasuka was ever mugged or attacked – would he be able to recognize what a dangerous situation he was in? Would he know what to do with himself or how to act? Thoughts like that often ran through Shizuo’s mind whenever he saw how unafraid his little brother was of him and his monstrous rage. 

And then other times it just pissed him off. Honestly, why couldn’t Shizuo scare his brother at least a little bit? Just the tiniest bit of fear would be so great right now.

“Sitting in comfortable chairs.” Izaya sang suddenly, pulling Shizuo out of his thoughts and (thankfully) moving the conversation away from the perverted direction it had been going. “I love it when I can just sit down on something and relax instantly.”

“Same.” Shizuo said aloud before he could stop himself, his eyes looking up to meet Izaya’s once more. “Comfy chairs are the best.”

An actual smile passed over Izaya’s face, his carmine eyes glittering a little bit as he and Shizuo watched each other. “Common ground.” Izaya said teasingly, patting the hard plastic chair he was currently sitting in. “Looks like we found some.”

Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Shizuo found himself smiling back at the raven. “Looks like it.” He agreed, distracted once again by how damn cute Izaya looked in that outfit.

Kasuka, of course, ruined their moment of peace.

“If you like sitting on comfortable things,” He said to Izaya, a strange glint coming into his expressionless eyes that Shizuo did not like. “Then you should try Nii-san’s lap.”

“W-What?!” Shizuo choked out, gawking at his brother with wide eyes, unable to believe what he was hearing. “What the hell are you talking about?!”

“Shizuo-kun’s lap?” Izaya repeated curiously, carmine eyes flicking down to stare at it. Shizuo got the uncomfortable feeling that he was really staring at something else though and he crossed his legs immediately, glaring fiercely at his little brother.

“We are _not_ going to talk about my lap.” The blonde hissed, gripping his chopsticks so tightly they were bound to break any second now.

“Try it, Orihara-san.” Kasuka encouraged, once again ignoring Shizuo’s obvious threat as he smiled at the raven. “You won’t be disappointed.”

“Don’t you dare try it!” Shizuo growled, pointing accusingly at the wolfishly-grinning Izaya, keeping his legs firmly crossed. “I will deck you without a second thought.”

“I just wanna know if Shizuo-kun’s lap is comfortable.” Izaya said with that same false innocence from before, eyes flicking down to Shizuo’s legs. “Come on. Only for a few seconds?”

“No way!” Shizuo yelled, his face burning up with embarrassment. “You’re fine in your chair! Right where you are!”

“Let me try!” Izaya whined, scooting his chair closer and grabbing Shizuo’s arm. “I wanna try!”

The unreal situation wasn’t helped any by Izaya’s pout and the outfit he was wearing, both of them seemingly designed to appeal to Shizuo’s inner weakness for cute things. The raven hung off Shizuo’s arm like some adorable lover, pouting pathetically with those delicious pink lips as he peered up at Shizuo. “I wanna try.” He whined, rubbing his cheek affectionately against Shizuo’s arm. “Let me sit on Shizuo-kun’s lap for five seconds. That’s all I ask.”

This was a plot. A ploy. A scam. Shizuo could smell it in the air. No model that looked as gorgeous as Izaya would be this interested in someone as plain as Shizuo. Not to mention the vast gaps in their intelligence, financial situations, and levels of success. Izaya couldn’t be actually invested in Shizuo at all. And he definitely seemed like the manipulative sort who would be after Shizuo just to get something out of him or drop him like a rock later in order to break his heart.

But for some reason…because of that damn pink sweater and flower clip, Shizuo couldn’t look at Izaya and suspect him of anything evil at all.

He was going to regret this on so many levels later.

“Fine.” Shizuo grumbled, slowly uncrossing his legs so that his lap was open again. “But _only_ for five seconds. Got it? Then I’m shoving you off.”

“Yay!” Izaya chirped, jumping faster than Shizuo’s mind could comprehend right onto his lap, wrapping those slender arms around Shizuo’s neck and resting his cheek comfortably on top of Shizuo’s head.

Shizuo sat frozen in place, unable to move from the shock pounding through him at having been so openly and quickly accepted as Izaya snuggled right up against him, cradling the blonde head in his hands and running delicate fingers calmingly through his hair.

His butt fit nearly perfectly into the curve of Shizuo’s waist, the two of them fitting together like puzzle pieces as Shizuo’s hands hung uselessly at his sides, unsure of where they should go. Izaya’s body felt so warm, like a little mouse nestling up against a large dog to seek comfort. And all the while, those fingers ran gently through Shizuo’s hair, effortlessly brushing out tangles and soothing Shizuo’s racing mind. The raven began to hum lightly, the sweet sound reminding Shizuo of days long past when his mother used to sing to calm him down.

It felt so…nice.

Shizuo could feel his eyelids drooping as Izaya’s humming soothed him, the gentle and steady motion of delicate fingers pulling him down into the realm of sleep. 

All he did was sit there, and Izaya sat on him, the both of them connected in what felt like a far more intimate moment than any random sit on someone’s lap had a right to be. Shizuo let Izaya’s hands and voice soothe him into relaxation, his own hands slowly moving up to land on the curve of Izaya’s waist, slotting themselves to the gentle slope of Izaya’s pink-clad body like they were made to be there.

Izaya hummed a different tune once Shizuo’s hands landed on his body, almost purring as he ran his fingers even deeper through Shizuo’s hair. Shizuo stroked his hands slowly up and down Izaya’s body in a daze, his eyes fully closed now, as he breathed in the scent that had first alerted him to the raven’s presence. It was strongest at Izaya’s neck, where Shizuo’s nose slowly turned to press against, the blonde inhaling it deeply with a low growl.

Izaya giggled a little in response to the growl, the sound reverberating through the smooth neck Shizuo buried his face in, still breathing in that dizzying scent. Somehow, it pissed him off, but it also smelled…strangely magnetic. Like something so vile you had to sniff it again just to be sure your brain had actually comprehended something that could smell like pure evil. But at the same time you couldn’t help but be drawn to that evil. Shizuo was in equal parts disgusted by and attracted to the strange, beautiful man sitting on his lap.

What was wrong with him?

His fingers dug a little deeper into the smooth skin of Izaya’s sides, the smaller man’s hums jumping a bit in response and then relaxing back into their soothing lull, spidery fingers twirling and threading his blonde hair.

It was almost like Izaya was an instrument in Shizuo’s hands, responding to his every touch and keening out the different notes Shizuo’s fingers teased from his petite body. Beautiful melodies were coaxed from inside the raven’s lungs, up through his throat at the will of Shizuo’s touch. It made Shizuo wish Izaya’s mouth was open to let the sounds through unobstructed, rather than being reduced into muffled hums. He was certain that somehow, no matter if it was singing or shouting or laughing or screaming that came out, he’d find it utterly beautiful.

“Five seconds, huh?” A slightly smug voice suddenly asked, shattering through the calm that had settled over Shizuo. “Seems to me like you’re giving him a lot more than that.”

Shizuo’s golden eyes flew open, his head jerking up in shock to meet the smug gaze of his younger brother Kasuka, watching them with a glint in his eyes from across the table. Instantly, he surged to his feet, shoving Izaya off his lap and onto the floor. “It’s not like that!” He started yelling, then the realization of what he’d just done hit him, and he looked to his side in dread.

“Ow!” Izaya hissed from where he’d landed on the ground, wincing at the harsh impact and shooting a glare up at Shizuo. “Stupid protozoan!” The raven snapped, a large red spot beginning to form on his cheek where Shizuo’s head had smacked him. “I’m literally on top of you! Think you can stand my existence for _two seconds_ before you go flailing around like a gorilla?!”

“Hey, shut the hell up!” Shizuo growled in response, his tiny inclination to help the smaller man up to his feet evaporating instantly. “I got distracted, you asshole!”

“You’re the asshole!” Izaya yelled back, jumping elegantly to his feet and dusting his white pants off with a furious expression. “I thought we were having a nice moment but no! You’re brother says five words and suddenly you just can’t stand to be in the same breathing space as me.”

“That’s not it!” Shizuo protested, clenching his fists at his sides as fury began to take over, red swirling in his vision uncontrollably. “You even said I was flailing like a gorilla! I didn’t mean to shove you off! It was just a knee-jerk reaction!”

“I’m going to be bruised for a week.” Izaya muttered, turning his back on Shizuo and gingerly touching the red mark on his face. He winced a little as he pressed his tender skin, shooting another spiteful glare at Shizuo. “I’m _never_ going to sit on your lap again.” He snapped, red eyes angry.

“Like I’d ever want someone like you sitting there!” Shizuo roared in response, changing the tune of his argument before he could even think about his words. “You’re a disgusting piece of shit and I wish you hadn’t come here!”

A brief look of hurt flashed through Izaya’s eyes before they narrowed, even more fury boiling in them than before.

“I’ll see you at work tomorrow, Heiwajima-san.” He hissed venomously, and it took Shizuo a few seconds to realize he was talking to Kasuka before he stormed over to the lunch room door, not even bothering to grab his bento box on the way, and kicked it open. The heavy metal door slammed loudly into the wall on the other side, the pissed-off raven sweeping out of the room and slamming it shut behind him with just as much force.

“Orihara-kun? Are you alright?” Shizuo heard a confused voice ask just before the door closed, cutting off the audio from outside.

Then it was only Shizuo and Kasuka alone in the lunch room like usual, Izaya’s scent of magnetic evil still lingering tauntingly in the air. It burned. It soothed. It made the room feel empty even though this was the way Shizuo had wanted it.

Why did it feel so wrong now?

“Well.” Kasuka finally said, his flat voice breaking the silence, followed by a sigh of disappointment. “That could’ve gone much better.”

“No, it couldn’t have.” Shizuo muttered, dropping back into his seat and pulling his lunch over to him, refusing to look Kasuka in the eyes. “Me and that guy…we don’t work. I told you I hated him this morning when I met him. That hasn’t changed. You bringing him here…that only made it worse.”

“Did me bringing him here make it worse?” Kasuka wondered aloud, taking another calm bite of food. “Or did what you say to him do that?”

Shizuo didn’t answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Shizuo messed up.
> 
> Being completely honest, so did Izaya. It's on both of them. Communication is not one of their strong suits.
> 
> And I wonder who that person Izaya met outside is? Perhaps a potential love rival? Or just a friend he knows very well? No one knooows...
> 
> Anyways, here's my question about the updates: I'm going to set a goal for about what time each month I update this story so there's at least a little consistency with it (and I actually get off my butt and get it done at a decent pace XD), and I need to decide what time that's going to be. I'm thinking around the middle of the month, but would you guys prefer the beginning, middle, or end? Let me know which one works best for you if you have an opinion on the subject.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the chapter! <3


	6. The Silver Suitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm finally back! It's good to see you all! (*^▽^*)
> 
> I have some pretty good news that's also kind of bittersweet: "Shichi's Adventures in Russia" is finally over! That marks the official end of the "Private Lessons" universe and also the start of my new focus on "Carmine Coffee"! I'm going to keep the update schedule for this story at once a month, but I'm going to try updating on the 15th of every month from now on. Hopefully earlier on in the day than this, but I was watching the osu! world cup grand finals earlier so this kinda got pushed back a little, hehe.
> 
> Anyways! If I get comfortable enough with that new schedule of every 15th, then I might start updating twice a month! But we'll see. I kinda like the pace we have here and the long chapters I can develop and write over each month. What do you guys think? Shorter chapters and more frequent updates or longer updates once a month? Let me know if you have an opinion!
> 
> I'll see you at the end! <3

That stupid, insolent, ignominious, protozoic, troglodyte! What the hell was wrong with him?! Izaya felt like screaming in rage as he burst out of the room, eager to leave the blonde idiot far behind him. He refused to acknowledge the nice moment they’d been having barely two minutes before this. That was completely ruined now, tarnished by the memory of Shizuo’s stinging words.

_“Like I’d ever want someone like you sitting there!”_

The words rang tauntingly in Izaya’s mind as his hand landed on the door, ready to slam it shut behind him.

_“You’re a disgusting piece of shit and I wish you hadn’t come here!”_

“Fuck you.” Izaya snarled under his breath, slamming the door with as much force as he was able and marching off. He shouldn’t have to take that shit. Whether Izaya was experimenting with his feelings or not, Shizuo’s rejecting attitude at the slightest provocation was a bit of a damaging blow to Izaya’s ego, more damaging than Izaya cared to admit.

Fucking blonde gorilla. See if Izaya ever sat on _his_ filthy lap again.

Izaya had barely made it one step away from the door, too wrapped up in his pissed-off thoughts to focus on the world around him, when he slammed right into someone’s chest, bouncing off them with a cry.

He would’ve landed hard on his rear end if two hands hadn’t grabbed his forearms, dragging him forwards into the same chest he’d just collided with and holding him there securely.

“Orihara-kun?” A deep, confused voice asked from above him, those hands still gripping his arms for stability. “Are you alright?”

_“Thank God the door was probably shut before I nearly busted my ass open.”_ Izaya thought to himself before responding, shaking his head to clear the brief flashes of shock at his near-accident out of his mind. “Um, yeah.” He managed to get out, wincing a bit and pressing a hand to the side of his head as a small headache began to pound. “I’m just peachy.”

“You sure?” The voice continued, concern filling it now as a gentle hand pressed over Izaya’s forehead. “You look a little sick. And…pissed.”

Alright, who was talking to him so familiarly?

Izaya finally looked up at whoever had caught him, his eyes landing instantly on short, spiked white hair and pale grey eyes. There were two silver star stickers followed by a light sprinkle of glitter at the corners of the eyes, bringing a strange sparkle to the grey orbs. The man’s face was masculine and handsome, with a strong jawline and a kind smile, all set atop a toned, muscular body.

“Shinichi.” Izaya blinked in shock, a slight smile of relief coming over his face when he saw who it was. “It’s just you.”

“Who did you think it was?” Shinichi laughed, stepping away from Izaya now that he was sure the smaller man was stable on his feet, letting his hands rest casually in his jean pockets. “Another wacko trying to get you to go out with them?”

Izaya shrugged, smiling at the friendly man that he’d often worked with on photo shoots before. Their bosses loved pairing them together because Izaya’s dark beauty and Shinichi’s light handsomeness contrasted so well. Izaya often portrayed a more seductive, dark, feminine role while Shinichi handled the friendly, bright, masculine figure, making for extremely well-rounded photos that appealed to multiple audiences. They’d once done all the modeling for an entire magazine together, the whole issue themed in black and white with the start of the magazine covered by Izaya in dark colors, the middle covered by Shinichi in lighter shades, and the end done up in dual-photos with them both in it, mixing and matching the black and white clothing they wore. That magazine had been a massive hit with the public, and Izaya had to admit that it might’ve been the project that gained him his current opportunity working alongside the star model, Kasuka Heiwajima.

“What are you doing on this side of the building?” Izaya asked aloud, pulling himself out of his thoughts as he ran his fingers his dark hair. “Normally you’re shooting in section C right about now.”

“I’m touched that you know my schedule so well!” Shinichi sang happily, clasping his hands together dramatically and batting his eyelashes at Izaya. “You really _do_ care, Orihara-kun!”

Izaya laughed at the sight, his anger with Shizuo all but washing away in the face of Shinichi’s antics. “I’ve told you before, you can call me Izaya.” The raven smiled, slipping his hands into his pockets with a relaxed air. “We’re friends, after all.”

Shinichi dropped his dramatic act, giving Izaya a sheepish laugh instead and scratching the back of his white hair. “Yeah, it’s just hard to drop old habits. You were so cold when we first met!”

“I don’t really…open up very well.” Izaya admitted, feeling a little guilty for all the suspicions he’d had about Shinichi when they’d first started working together. He’d been just as friendly then as he was now, and Izaya’s mind had taken Shinichi’s constant hugs, smiles, pats on the back, and greetings as a method of getting Izaya in bed with him. He hadn’t trusted Shinichi half as far as he could throw him, and the nice way he treated Izaya only made things worse. It had all felt like a ploy, a set-up to get him to lower his guard.

But as the days, weeks, and months had passed, Izaya had come to realize that Shinichi really was just as friendly and respectful as he seemed. He always asked Izaya if it was okay to do certain shoots that involved more intimate touching, if Izaya was uncomfortable with the way they were touching or how close they were, whether Izaya wanted his hands lower or higher, or if Izaya needed a break from all the photos. He was kind, considerate, and always kept his hands to himself if Izaya asked him to. He really was a great guy. Izaya enjoyed doing photo shoots with him. Other models tended to get a little grabbier, revealing the truth behind their friendly grins and greetings, but Shinichi was just a sweet cinnamon roll all the way through.

He was probably the only person besides Shinra that Izaya would consider a true friend.

“That’s an understatement!” Shinichi laughed, pulling Izaya back into the present as he grinned widely. “You flat-out hated me at first!”

“I just didn’t trust you, is all.” Izaya protested, punching Shinichi lightly in the shoulder. “It’s different now.”

“Alright, alright.” Shinichi conceded, smiling brightly at Izaya as his grey eyes sparkled. “Izaya-kun, then. Or…could I call you Izaya-chan? Would that be too much?”

Izaya felt his heart flutter a little in his chest at the second nickname, prompting him to quickly squash those feelings down, plastering a fake grin onto his face instead. None of that nonsense, heart. He couldn’t follow one of those pathetic paths of love right now. He had things to do. Career goals to set up. A life to lead. He couldn’t let himself get distracted by something like love.

Not to mention the fact that Shinichi was a boy. Going out with him or admitting that he had a crush on the guy…if anyone found out about that at school, who knew what might happen to Izaya’s reputation? The one he’d built up so carefully over his years in the school systems.

Experimenting on Shizuo was one thing. That Izaya could easily pass off as something he had absolutely no attachment to, and it wasn’t like Shizuo would ever come near his college anyway. There was no chance of his little flirtations here and there coming out in his school life. But Shinichi…Izaya knew he’d never be able just to flirt with Shinichi and cut him out of his life whenever he needed to.

He was too nice of a person to do that to, even Izaya knew that. He couldn’t do something so horrible to someone who’d been so kind to him. So the best thing to do if he wasn’t able to jump into a full relationship with the guy was just to keep them at a friendship level. Purely friends. Nothing more.

“I think I would prefer 'kun'.” Izaya said tightly, smiling through the lie as he looked at Shinichi’s hopeful grey eyes. “It’s just a little less…intimate.”

“Ah, of course.” Shinichi laughed, embarrassment tingeing his cheeks pink again. “We’re not that close yet. What was I thinking? Izaya-kun, then. Sorry if I mess it up later.”

God, this guy was too sweet for this world. How could people like him even exist?

“It’s no problem.” Izaya chirped brightly, smiling at his friend. “But I need to get going. Back to my classes and all that.”

“Right! I hope those are all going well for you.” Shinichi said cheerfully, smiling at Izaya with that kindness no one had ever shown him before. “But…are you sure you’re okay? You really did look a little angry earlier.”

“Oh that.” Izaya waved a dismissive hand, surprised at how quickly his argument with Shizuo had been forgotten. “I just got in a little spat with Heiwajima-san’s older brother. Nothing serious. Just a little frustrating.”

“Heiwajima-san’s brother?” Shinichi asked in surprise, his eyes widening. “The angry blonde who comes here around lunchtime every day?”

“He comes here every day?” Izaya frowned, the unpleasantness of that fact sinking in. That might botch Izaya’s new plan of eating lunch at the modeling agency before returning to school.

“Most days, anyway.” Shinichi shrugged, trying to think about it. “They’re pretty close, but I think the older one works all day so they barely get to see each other beyond these lunches. I honestly have issues seeing how they’re related sometimes. What with Kasuka being so quiet and calm all the time and that guy just _screaming_ ‘I am a ticking time bomb! Don’t come near me!’”

Izaya laughed at the description, thinking of Shizuo’s inhumanly gorgeous and angry golden eyes. “That’s the truth. He’s got a pretty powerful vibe about him.” The raven agreed, smiling at the thought of Shizuo’s rage despite himself. “It makes him interesting, though.”

“Hmm…well, whatever floats your boat.” Shinichi hummed, doubt filling his grey eyes. “Personally, I’d prefer an interesting person who was dark and mysterious instead of pissed-off 24/7. Someone more like you.”

Izaya blushed at the comment, trying to hide it as he ducked his head, breathing quickly to get a hold of himself. “T-Thanks.” He managed to get out, praying he wasn’t being too obvious here. “W-Well, I’d better get going before I’m late.”

“Oh yeah! Sorry to keep you.” Shinichi apologized, stepping aside so Izaya could continue on his way. “Say hi to Kishitani-san for me. And stay out of trouble, Izaya-kun!”

Izaya nodded and said a quick farewell, hurrying off down the hallway before his blush could spread further. It was really easy to allow himself to fall into the comfort of Shinichi’s presence, to keep up that dynamic of good, close friends instead of a one-way crush situation, until Shinichi said things like that. Then Izaya’s heart would start doing flips and freaking out, unsure of how to handle the genuinely kind compliments from the only person who spoke to him so honestly.

It was so confusing sometimes! Izaya felt like they were the best of friends and that everything was peachy and dandy one second, and then Shinichi would give a gentle comment like that about liking Izaya and everything would go downhill the next. Izaya would be a flustered mess, blushing like a schoolgirl and trying not to show it as Shinichi stood there with his kind smile, not comprehending a single thing. Then they could slip back into friendship. Friendship, crushing hard, friendship, crushing hard, friendship, it was too much for Izaya’s heart!

He needed to get back to school. And hopefully hide his blushing face from stupid Shinra, poking at his insecurities like they were playthings. The crazy future-doctor would pounce on them like a starving man onto food, prying them apart until he discovered Izaya’s newest secret.

Sometimes Izaya hated having a friend like Shinra who was close enough to him to see through all his lies and masks. It made things like secret crushes on colleagues so much more difficult to ignore.

As Izaya ran out of the modeling agency, giving quick goodbyes to everyone he passed that recognized him and heading for the train station, his thoughts began to drift around, centering on two things: Shinichi and Shizuo.

They were both very different people, that was for sure.

Shizuo was aggressive and easily flustered, the sort of person who jumped to conclusions and let his anger take control of him before he thought anything through. He was tall, broad, and intense, and he gave off the general vibe of a delinquent with his dyed hair and sour attitude. However, after that little moment they’d had with Izaya on his lap (the one Izaya was still going to try and ignore), Izaya had seen that the monstrous man could cave under something as simple as human touch. He’d been so tender when he’d held onto Izaya, and his little sighs of contentment had made Izaya’s heart race in a way he wasn’t used to. The monster had a powerful aura of rage, but he definitely wasn’t like that all the way through; there was a seed of humanity and warmth tucked down deep within him. Izaya’s little experiment had been proving that so far.

And then there was Shinichi on the total opposite end of the scale. Shinichi was kind and compassionate, the sort of respectable person that everybody knew and loved because he never caused any problems. He was the sort of man you took home to your parents because he treated you right and he loved you like a fairytale prince. He had a bright smile and laughing eyes, and he understood boundaries and personal space better than any man Izaya had ever known. Shinichi was handsome and adorable at the same time; a cinnamon roll in a gorgeous body. And from what Izaya had seen from him over the months of work they’d done together, he was like that all the time. There was no real dark side to Shinichi. Short of having weird kinks in the bed (which Izaya had a hard time picturing as it was), Izaya couldn’t even think of a single thing that was weird or twisted that could apply to the man.

Completely different people, yet both had a strange magnetism to them that Izaya just couldn’t deny.

He reached the train to take him back to Rikkyo University, settling down into one of the familiarly hard seats and glancing out the window as the train started to move.

It picked up in speed, pulling out of the clean station of bustling people, dragging itself down the track that would take it deep into the heart of the city. Izaya watched as everything got faster and faster, the train slowly picking up speed until it was finally rocketing off into the distance, reaching a comfortable pace as it headed towards its next destination. The scenery blurred by, buildings and people blending in a mash-up of abstract shapes that made no sense to Izaya’s distracted eyes.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, pulling his attention away from the blurs of imagery outside, and Izaya glanced down to see a new text message from the devil himself.

**Shinra: [Hey! You coming back soon or what? You normally don’t stay over there for lunch. :) ]**

Izaya huffed a slight laugh at the format of the text message, Shinra being one of the only other people besides himself that he knew who texted with semi-proper grammar and full sentences.

A man sat down next to Izaya on the train, apparently having come over from another seat or something as Izaya began his reply to Shinra. He ignored the newcomer, attention focused solely on the small screen in his hands.

**Izaya: [Yeah, I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes; just got on the train. Stressful lunch over here thanks to my lovely new coworker. (҂⌣̀_⌣́) I’ll tell you about it later.]**

The man next to Izaya scooted a little closer, their knees bumping together as the train jostled on the train. Izaya frowned at the contact, his eye flicking over to the guy’s knee for a half second as he scooted closer to the window. He’d ignore it again for now. It happened sometimes on trains. He could let it go. If it happened again though, he’d start having an issue.

A buzz in his hands dragged Izaya’s attention away from his slightly suspicious seatmate, the new message from Shinra glowing on the screen.

**Shinra: [Haha, nice emoticon. Did something bad happen? Who’s the new coworker?]**

Ah, that’s right. Izaya hadn’t told Shinra about his new job offer yet.

**Izaya: [Right. I forgot to tell you. I got a job offer to work with one of the top models before he goes off and becomes a movie star or something like that. That’s who I’m talking about.]**

The man bumped against Izaya again, this time it was their arms touching, and Izaya shot the guy a quick glare. It was a tall man in a business suit, looking down at his own phone like nothing had happened, completely ignoring the glare Izaya was sending his way.

Oh, he better not be trying to play this off as innocent if he kept bumping into Izaya like this. Izaya wouldn’t take this for much longer.

The buzz grabbed Izaya’s attention again, the raven giving the man next to him a lingering, hateful scowl before looking back at his phone.

**Shinra: [Oooh, fancy!~ So is he one of those prissy movie divas? Thinks he’s better than you?]**

Izaya laughed at the idea. He couldn’t imagine Kasuka cracking a smile or a smirk, let alone being prissy and acting like a diva. The guy didn’t display enough emotion for that.

**Izaya: [Haha, no way. It was his brother that caused the issues.]**

The train rocked a bit and the man next to Izaya took the opportunity to completely press his body against the side of Izaya’s.

“Hey!” Izaya snapped, shoving the guy off him with a glare. “Watch where you’re leaning, asshole. Some people enjoy personal space and respectable boundaries.”

The man snickered, breaking out of his false innocence act as he shot a nasty grin at Izaya, his eyes filled with lust that made Izaya want to puke.

“Sorry, babe.” The man smirked, setting his hand intentionally on Izaya’s thigh and squeezing it suggestively. “Just couldn’t help myself.”

_“Forces above, restrain me from giving this man a lobotomy with my bare hands.”_ Izaya thought to himself, breathing deeply through his nose as he smacked the hand roughly off his thigh. “I’m not interested in perverted old creeps.” He said coolly, giving the snickering businessman a sharp glare and scooting even further towards the window. “So cut your shit before I yell for the conductor to throw you off the train.”

“Oh c’mon, babe.” The man purred, evidently not getting the message as he pushed up against Izaya again, creeping his hand up Izaya’s thigh once more as he pressed his nose towards Izaya’s neck. “This is just some simple fun.”

“GET OFF ME!” Izaya shouted, slapping the man across the face as loudly as he could. When in tight situations with annoying people, call as much attention to yourself as possible.

Multiple heads on the train turned in their direction, eying the businessman with the red hand mark across his face in disgust and disapproval.

The man’s face burned in shame, scowling at Izaya as he scooted towards the far end of his seat.

“Is there a problem here, sir?” The conductor asked, walking over to their seats and giving the businessman a harsh glare. “Do I need to have you removed?”

“Fuck you.” The businessman muttered, looking down at his feet with a scowl, no longer interested in flirting with someone who was willing to call him out on his shit.

The conductor glared at the top of the man’s head, giving Izaya an apology for the trouble and a free ticket for his next ride as compensation for his poor experience.

Izaya accepted the ticket gleefully, smirking smugly at the businessman glowering at him from the other end of the seat.

“Serves you right.” The raven hummed to the businessman, turning back to his phone as the conductor settled everyone else down on the train. “Freaking pervert.”

Izaya hoped the man’s wife would see that handprint when he got home and figure out what had happened. He’d be happy to help her get some revenge on this loser if she ever went looking for it.

He saw two new text messages on his phone this time, one from Shinra and one from Shinichi.

Surprised, Izaya opened Shinichi’s first.

**Shinichi: [Hey, Izaya-kun! I was going thru the locker room and I found ur school uniform. The black one w the cute silver tie? Want me to bring it to u? <3]**

“God, why does he have to sign some of his texts with hearts?” Izaya muttered aloud, trying to stop the furious blush rising on his cheeks. He was such a dork.

But sure enough, Izaya looked down at himself and realized he was still wearing the freaking pink pastel outfit from before. He’d been so mad with Shizuo and then so distracted with Shinichi that he’d forgotten to change before heading back to school. Crap. If anyone at school saw him looking like this, he’d never hear the end of it. _Especially_ from Shinra.

**Izaya: [Can’t believe I forgot! Please bring it if it isn’t too much trouble. I really need it! (o´д｀)o]**

Izaya had to wait barely three seconds before his phone buzzed again with Shinichi’s cheerful response, the friendly man as prompt as ever.

**Shinichi: [Np! Lol, cute face. Where do u want me to meet u?]**

“Would you quit saying cute?” Izaya hissed, the red in his face only growing even brighter. “It’s not helping!”

He bit his lip and thought about it for a few seconds. He didn’t want to risk going back to his dorm and having Shinra or anyone else seeing him. Plus, it felt like a little bit too intimate to have Shinichi knowing where he lived. He needed to come up with some other place that wasn’t too far from Rikkyo but would be easy for Shinichi to find, especially since he didn’t come to this area often as far as Izaya knew.

Then an idea popped into Izaya’s mind that he hoped to God wouldn’t be a horrible one later.

**Izaya: [How about you meet me at a little café called Firefly Brew? It’s within a few miles of Rikkyo University. You can probably Google Maps it.]**

Firefly Brew. The same damn place Shizuo worked. If Izaya was lucky, the blonde brute would still be chatting with his brother Kasuka and Izaya could get in and get out before he went back in for another work shift. Hopefully. Izaya did _not_ need another confrontation with that idiot when they were probably both still mad at each other. Also, he didn’t want Shinichi to see him flirting with Shizuo…for some reason.

The buzz in his hands from Shinichi brought Izaya’s thoughts back to reality, his red eyes anxiously flickering down to the phone screen.

**Shinichi: [Sounds good! See u there. Btw, u look really cute in your pink outfit rn. Sure u wanna change? ;)]**

“Winky face?! What does the winky face mean?!” Izaya asked in a panic, glancing down at his outfit. Was Shinichi flirting? Oh God, Izaya wasn’t equipped to handle Shinichi flirting with him! This was a joke right? It had to be a joke! Shinichi and Izaya were just friends. Shinichi knew that better than anyone! Oh, please let this be a joke!

Before Izaya could text anything though, another message from Shinichi popped up.

**Shinichi: [Lol, just realized how creepy that could’ve sounded. Ignore my suggestion. You look cute.]**

Izaya breathed out a sigh of relief, slumping back in his seat as the train started to come to a stop. When Izaya glanced outside, he saw that is was his station. Alright. Time to head to the café. And hopefully tamper down the butterflies swirling in his stomach at Shinichi calling him cute. And using proper grammar and spelling while doing it, even. Shinichi was always switching around between things like “ur” and “your” or “u” and “you”. Usually whenever he was being serious or trying to get a point across, he typed the full words.

Which only made his compliment all the worse.

_“Just type a normal response, Izaya.”_ Izaya told himself, trying to calm down as the conductor called out the name of the stop, the side doors opening. _“Ignore the compliment, type a normal response, and get off the train.”_

**Izaya: [Haha, thanks. But I’m still going to change. Please bring my uniform to Firefly Brew. I don’t wanna get caught breaking dress code.]**

Izaya shoved his phone in his pocket after he sent the message, scooting past the perverted and grumpy businessman as fast as he could to exit the train alongside the flow of passengers, a new pathway already set in his mind for the best way to get to Firefly Brew without being spotted by any Rikkyo students.

As Izaya headed down the street, very much aware of the extra appreciative looks being sent his way by females and males of all ages (curse his idiocy for wearing a modeling outfit outside the actual agency), he felt another buzz in his pocket.

**Shinichi: [Okie dokie! Heading over now. See u soon, cutie! ( ˘ ³˘)♥]**

Face burning, Izaya decided to end the conversation there and switched over to Shinra’s nearly-forgotten message, trying to get his brain back on the track of that conversation.

**Shinra: [Sorry you had issues with his brother. But maybe you won’t see him very often! Hey…now that I think about it, Shizuo-kun has a younger brother that does some modeling, too. Could it be…DID YOU HAVE LUNCH WITH SHIZUO?!]**

Ah shit. Izaya had forgotten that Shinra freaking knew the blonde beast. They were friends!

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” Izaya cursed aloud, smacking himself in the head as he walked along, gaining even more looks from the passerby as he went. “I completely forgot! Dang it! Should’ve thought about that last text before I sent it.”

Could he lie? Was it possible to fool Shinra into thinking he’d had lunch with someone else’s big brother? But what if Shinra came to his work to meet Kasuka and ended up recognizing him as Shizuo’s little brother? Or worse, seeing Shizuo himself? This wasn’t something Izaya could easily cover up.

Izaya got another text from Shinra just as he was about to try typing out some random response to change the subject.

**Shinra: [Since you have refused to answer the question, I must assume that you did. OOOOH! You had lunch with Shiiiizuooooo! Did you fight? Why would you fight?! I ship you two so hard! (o≧д≦)o]**

“Stupid doctor.” Izaya glared at the screen, wishing he’d seen the text and come up with an excuse before Shinra could jump to any conclusions. Now he had to somehow dissuade the delusional freak before anything got out of hand.

**Izaya: [I don’t want to talk about this right now. Yes, I had lunch with him. It went horribly. It was all HIS fault, might I add, and that is the end of this conversation. Now goodbye. I’m meeting with Shinichi right now so he can drop off something I forgot at work.]**

Izaya sighed as he headed around a corner, watching the street with careful eyes for Rikkyo University uniforms that he needed to avoid. So far, he was looking pretty good. Not a lot of students came down the back roads like this. They preferred the main, busy ones that led directly to the university. He’d be at the café in a few minutes, Shinichi would show up, he’d get his uniform back, and be on his way before his next class was even within half an hour of starting.

When Shinra’s response came back, Izaya was almost dreading what it would say.

**Shinra: [Aw dang it. Well, please tell me all about it later so maybe I can clear it up if it was a misunderstanding. Oh! Tsukumoya-san? I forgot you became friends with him. Onto a first name basis now, huh? You better not be blowing holes in my ship.]**

**Shinra: [Remember that he used to annoy you! Keep that in mind!]**

**Shinra: [He’s got an unsavory past! Everybody knows that!]**

**Shinra: [Actually, that just came from an internet gossip magazine so it might not be true…]**

**Shinra: [Still! Tsukumoya-san is not the one for you!]**

Izaya rolled his eyes at the spattering of dramatic text messages from Shinra. The last few in particular were just ridiculous. “Unsavory past”. Everybody had seen that article when it had come out about what Shinichi had used to do for a living. It was complete nonsense. That article had been factually disproved within three days of it coming out, there had been only two weeks’ worth of paparazzi and press pestering before they’d all dropped the subject, and the author had taken the article down and sent a formal apology to Shinichi for making things up about him within a month.

Throughout the whole affair, Shinichi had remained his usual calm, cheerful self, laughing off all the questions from the eager reporters and being just as open with his private life as he’d been before. He’d cooperated easily with the police, given a brief testimony in a publicity event, and even allowed some reporters to come into his apartment to look around and film live for a TV show famous for exposing celebrities’ dark pasts. At the end of it all, he was the same, sweet, honest person everybody knew and loved. If anything, his popularity had gone up after the fiasco because everyone got to see firsthand what a great, respectable guy he was and how willing he was to cooperate with the law.

Izaya admired Shinichi for his level-headedness and seemingly endless supply of cheer and optimism. It got him through so much in life, and everybody loved him for it. On top of that, it was all real. None of it was fake.

Izaya wished he was strong enough to have a will like that powering him through life. All the happiness and success he portrayed to get people to follow him was fake. Izaya drew people to him through deceit and lies. Shinichi drew them to him because he glowed like an angel.

Izaya sighed, lost in thought as he tucked the phone into his pocket, deciding to ignore Shinra’s messages as he continued his march to the café. When he turned the corner of one street and spotted the tiny building, glowing like a gentle candle in the middle of the busy city, he could almost feel himself dreading the encounter with Shinichi that was to come. He didn’t want to be so envious of his friend, but he couldn’t help it. He was just going to have to paste on another bright, sweet smile to fool the world while he faced down an actual example of goodness and light.

It made him feel so disgusting.

Izaya slipped inside Firefly Brew without ordering anything and found a quiet corner in the building to sit in by himself, pulling up a chair and staring outside the window as he waited for Shinichi to arrive.

If he’d known about the confrontation that would follow in just ten more minutes, Izaya wouldn’t have cared who saw him in pastel pink as he went to school that day. He would’ve been out of that café, uniform or no uniform, faster than a bolt of black and pink lightning.

Because that confrontation was the beginning of the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun duuuuuuuuuh! A love rival!! All of you who guessed that he was going to be a love rival were absolutely correct! Tsukumoya Shinichi given human form has become Shizuo's love rival in this story. Better add that to the tags when I'm done with this, haha. 
> 
> Anyways, what do you guys think? Are you still hardcore Shizaya shippers? Or are you beginning to drift towards Shinichaya? Or...whatever their ship name is. Izanichi? Tsukuhara? They probably have something, I just don't know what it is.
> 
> Well, that's all from me for now! Remember to let me know your thoughts on the update schedule if you've got any particular opinion! I'll see you guys with the next chapter! Bye! <3 <3 <3


	7. The Golden Gorilla and the Silver Snake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I posted anything. I guess technically it's been a month, so maybe that's a super long time. It felt longer with the winter break and all. Anyways, I've got the next chapter for you guys - the dreaded confrontation we've all been waiting for - and I hope you like it! Here it is! I'll see you at the end! <3

Shizuo and Kasuka finished their lunch in silence after the fiasco with Izaya. There wasn’t much to say to each other – which was what usually happened since nothing really changed with them – but for some reason, today felt more awkward than usual. It was like Kasuka thought Shizuo ought to be saying something, like there was an elephant in the room that needed to be addressed, but Shizuo couldn’t see what it was. The elephant was just standing there, and Shizuo was blind to it and hopelessly confused.

When they finished their lunch, Shizuo wished his little brother good luck with the rest of his shoots for the day and headed miserably out of the modeling agency. He didn’t bother greeting the guard on his way back; he was pretty sure his sour attitude would’ve turned _that_ into an unpleasant encounter as well.

No one deserved to talk to Shizuo Heiwajima when he was in a bad mood. It was an experience Shizuo himself wouldn’t wish on anyone. And it often ended in somebody flying up into the air and sustaining near permanent damage.

“I just have to get to work and try to forget all of this even happened.” Shizuo muttered, shaking his head and hoping to clear his mind of the unpleasant afternoon. “Just get to work, start my next shift, and go home. That’s all I need to do.”

Shizuo huffed once to himself in agreement with his statement, and his footsteps sped up, propelling him towards the café that would soon be his salvation.

Or at least he thought it was going to be.

When Shizuo flung open the front door to the restaurant and marched inside, he froze immediately.

There it was. That magnetic feeling from before. It raised the hairs on his arms and gave him goosebumps all over his skin. It…It couldn’t be. It just wasn’t possible. The universe couldn’t be this fucking cruel to him, right?!

Shizuo tried not to look. He really did. But it felt like his head was being pulled by that force, dragging harshly over to his left without his control, only to anchor on the one thing he’d been dreading more than anything else for the past hour.

There he was. Orihara Izaya. 

Still dressed in those same pastel pink clothes (that Shizuo still refused to admit were cute on him) as before, he was looking out the window of the café, seated in one of the corner booths. His carmine eyes were completely focused on the passerby rushing by outside, the young model seemingly unaware of the intense glare settled right on his neck.

He shifted a bit, as if to turn around, and Shizuo’s head instantly snapped forward again, the blonde marching straight for the back and hoping that his burning cheeks weren’t showing as much as he thought they were.

How could he be here? Why was he here right now? Had he literally come to the café right after blowing up in Shizuo’s face just to torment him?!

Shizuo scowled as he ran into the back and grabbed his usual apron, pulling it harshly over his head and tying it even more harshly around his waist. He didn’t want to deal with this shit right now. As it was, he wasn’t even sure he understood just what this shit even was.

Who was the one at fault for the argument they’d had at lunch? Shizuo had been pretty sure at the time that it was Izaya but now…now that he replayed the conversation in his mind, he was beginning to doubt that. Was he the one who caused Izaya’s massive blow-up? He _had_ dumped the guy – quite literally – on the floor, and insulted him in almost the same breath before the raven had exploded. Maybe Izaya had had a right to be angry. But then again, he’d purposefully intruded on the lunch that Shizuo and Kasuka always shared together! Even if he’d been invited by Kasuka, he was still interrupting their daily schedule of peace with his aura of evil and that in itself should be a crime!

Shizuo sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, staring at his reflection in one of the coffee machines they kept in the back. Was that really a good enough reason to blame Izaya for everything that had happened, though? It probably wasn’t. But when Shizuo got angry, anything seemed like a good reason to pin all the blame on one person. Heck, with Izaya, he felt like he could pin every problem in the world on him.

Global warming? Izaya started it. Politicians? He was probably whispering in all their ears. The gender wage gap? Izaya was laughing out loud at the struggles it caused. Nuclear warfare? Guilty as charged.

But that probably wasn’t fair. It was too much blame and hatred all directed at one person. It was like Izaya had become Shizuo’s sole outlet for rage in just the single day he’d known the guy. That definitely wasn’t fair to him, even if he was an evil little prick who was only hiding behind some pleasant mask.

“Maybe I should apologize.” Shizuo muttered, almost scowling at the thought of it. His parents had raised him to be the bigger person in situations like these…but they’d been talking about arguments with friends and in his mind, Izaya certainly didn’t qualify. He was an acquaintance at best, and an unpleasant one to boot. Did he deserve an apology anyway?

“Damn.” Shizuo growled, punching the wall in frustration. He held himself back so that his fist wouldn’t go through it; only a small indent was made where his fist had landed. He stared at his hand, thinking about all the jobs he’d lost before because of his anger issues throughout high school. This was the only one he’d managed to keep his temper in check during. His boss and coworkers probably weren’t even aware of his super-strength. He couldn’t let a grudge against some random guy spiral out of control to the point where it got him fired from here, too. He loved his job too much.

“I’m such a piece of shit.” Shizuo sighed, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. “The only reason I’m apologizing to this guy is because I like my job, even though he might deserve the apology.”

No time to think on how horrible that made Shizuo, though.

His boss was already poking his head out, eyes lighting up when he saw Shizuo standing there, and hand gesturing eagerly towards the front counter.

“Shizuo!” The man cried in delight. “Right on time! Just step up and take your shift, okay? We’re kind of slow right now, but Takashi left a while ago to take care of a family emergency so I really need someone on counter duty.”

Shizuo nodded in mere acceptance of his responsibility, moving to the front counter and checking over all the coffee equipment up there before begrudgingly facing out towards the rest of the café.

He tried to keep his eyes locked on the door, waiting for customers to come in, but they kept straying slightly to the right where he knew Izaya was sitting.

He caught himself each time before his eyes actually landed on the raven, but he was pretty sure there was a scowl on his face that could stop a charging rhino in its tracks as a result of his internal moral struggles.

The struggles only increased when a new customer walked in…and walked right over to Izaya.

Shizuo frowned in a mixture of confusion and some other ugly feeling swirling in his chest, his golden eyes locked on the new figure as it moved confidently towards the young model sitting in the corner.

The guy was good-looking, far more so than Shizuo, with short white hair done up in casual spikes, pale grey eyes that complimented the colors of his body, this strange starry glitter stuff at the edges of his eyes, and a pretty decent body. He was toned and muscular, with a nice smile thrown on top of all his masculine perfections.

In short, he made Shizuo feel like crap, just like Izaya had done earlier.

Shizuo’s eyes narrowed instinctively as the guy walked over to Izaya and placed a gentle hand on the raven’s shoulder. He didn’t like this guy just as much as he didn’t like Izaya. He didn’t seem trustworthy. Or maybe it was just the fact that he oozed confidence and success like Izaya had earlier. Either way, Shizuo didn’t like him, and the fact that he was over there talking to Izaya was even worse.

It was like the douchebags were uniting, or something. Maybe they were in some kind of evil manipulators club together. They both seemed to fit the part.  
Izaya turned around in his seat with a suspicious look – probably because he didn’t want anyone touching him – but….those wine-red eyes lit up once he saw the silver guy standing there.

“Shinichi!” Izaya said in delight, standing up and…and giving the guy a hug?! What?! Izaya didn’t seem like the type of person who’d be willing to give out a fucking _handshake_ , let alone a hug! Who was this asshole that had just come up to him?

“Hey, Izaya-kun.” The silver guy said cheerfully, wrapping his arms easily around Izaya like they’d hugged a million times before. “Long time no see.”  
Izaya laughed a little at the comment, a sound that make Shizuo’s fists clench instantly at his sides as he watched the exchange, and sat back down, urging the silver guy to sit with him.

“Did you bring it?” Izaya asked nervously, his eyes darting around the café like he was worried who might overhear.

Okay, that sounded illegal. Maybe this guy was Izaya’s partner in their drug dealing enterprise. Yeah. Yeah, that was probably it.

Despite the fact that this would mean two wanted criminals were conspiring in his café, Shizuo could feel himself calming down. These guys were only coworkers. That was it. He didn’t know why that calmed him down so much, but that was it.

Shinichi laughed, a casual and pleasant sound, and reached into a bag slung around his torso. “Izaya-kun, you make it sound like some drug exchange.” He said jokingly, pulling out a bundle of clothes and passing them over the table to Izaya. “Yes, I brought your uniform for you, cutie. Even though it means sacrificing this adorable image of you in my mind.”

Izaya blushed a little at the comment, taking the uniform and forcefully directing his attention on it instead of the smiling guy across from him. “Th-Thank you.” Izaya got out in as dignified a manner as he could. “I appreciate it.”

“The uniform or the compliment?” The silver guy asked cheerfully.

Izaya’s blush deepened and he ducked his head a little, still holding the clothing in his hands. “Both I guess.” He mumbled, widening the smile on the silver guy’s face.

“Yay! We’re at the point where I can give you compliments now!” He sang happily, punching his fists up in the air in victory. “I’m never gonna stop calling you cute now, cutie.”

“Please don’t!” Izaya said instantly, hiding his burning face behind the clothes. “We’re in public, idiot!”

The silver guy laughed again, pushing the clothes gently down so he could see Izaya’s face. He smiled kindly at the flustered raven, brushing some hair gently out of his eyes. “I know. I won’t do it if it makes you uncomfortable.” He said softly, smiling that same impossibly-kind smile. “But I do want you to know that I think you’re one of the most adorable things to walk this earth, Izaya-kun.”

Shizuo’s hands, which he hadn’t realized were clenching the counter, snapped shut, crumbling the bit of counter he’d been holding onto beneath them. He glared at the two evil shits sitting in the corner, laughing and talking like best friends. Or…something more.

Was this Izaya’s boyfriend? What the hell was he doing in Shizuo’s café? What right did Izaya have to flaunt himself at lunch and sit on Shizuo’s fucking lap for fifteen minutes when he had a boyfriend?! And then Izaya was blatantly showing the guy off to Shizuo, knowing that Shizuo was going to feel inferior to the perfect man he’d selected as his actual partner?

No way in _hell_ was Shizuo going to let this one slide.

Ignoring some lady who’d just walked up to the counter, Shizuo marched around the barricade between him and Izaya, growling like the beast he was as he marched in a direct line for the booth in the corner.

Izaya must’ve sensed all his rage or something because his carmine eyes flicked over to land on Shizuo and widened in a mixture of shock, horror, and rage, like he had completely forgotten Shizuo worked here. Well, that was complete bullshit. Izaya’s little scheme wasn’t going to get by Shizuo. The raven wasn’t the kind of person to forget some little detail like that – even Shizuo could see that from the few interactions he’d had with him.

“Izaya-kun?” Silver guy asked in confusion, leaning towards Izaya in concern. “Is something wrong?”

Before Izaya got a chance to respond, Shizuo came up to their table and slammed his hands harshly on its flat surface, drawing the attention of the entire café.

He didn’t care at that moment in time, though. His insides were boiling over with rage and his vision was tipped with red. It was only a matter of time before he completely snapped.

“What the hell, Izaya?” Shizuo demanded angrily, spitting out the name like it was a disgusting piece of spinach. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Izaya looked at him coldly, not a hint of fear in those eyes as he responded. “I’m meeting up with a friend in a coffee shop. Is that so wrong?”

“Don’t fuck with me like that.” Shizuo growled, getting in Izaya’s face and glaring fiercely at him. “This is your boyfriend, isn’t it? Why the hell did you bring your boyfriend here after the shit you pulled with me at lunch? Huh? You think it’s okay? It’s funny?! It’s fucked up, that’s what it is!”

Shizuo turned his glare on the silver guy next, who was sitting there with a completely baffled look on his face, eyes switching back and forth between the two of them in confusion. 

“And you don’t play innocent either!” Shizuo growled, grabbing the front of the guy’s shirt and yanking him harshly into his face. “I know you’re just as twisted as he is.”

“Shizuo, knock it off! He’s just a friend!” Izaya yelled, grabbing Shizuo’s arm and pulling him back from the silver guy. His other pale, delicate, perfect hand came up to try and pry Shizuo’s fingers off the silver guy’s shirt, a surprising amount of force going into the action.

“Like hell he is!” Shizuo snapped, glaring at Izaya again and refusing to relinquish his grip. “I heard you two from over at the counter. You’re all lovey-dovey and shit. He’s calling you cutie. You’re blushing at everything he says. Don’t tell me that’s not a fucking relationship!”

Izaya’s jaw dropped and his eyes narrowed in anger, the raven fingernails digging into Shizuo’s hand and arm. “I can’t believe you, Shizuo.” He hissed, carmine eyes flashing. “You were not only eavesdropping on us, but chose to make your own assumptions about our conversation then come marching over like you have a right to interfere? Fuck off! I haven’t even known you for a single day! How I act around my friends is none of your business!”

Some part of those words made sense, even Shizuo knew that, but his anger levels were just too high. Everything was turning into a reason to get pissed.

“Don’t give me that shit!” Shizuo yelled back, his fist tightening on the silver guy’s shirt and almost ripping it and he turned the glare back on Izaya’s boyfriend. “You were rubbing up on me all throughout lunch, you sat on my fucking _lap_ , you flirted with me, and now you’re bringing your actual boyfriend in here right in front of me. That’s messed up and you need to be confronted about it.”

“Dude, we’re not dating.” The silver guy spoke up, looking at Shizuo in bewilderment. “Me and Izaya-kun are just really good friends. We work together at the modeling agency.”

Shizuo froze at that, his rage stopping in his veins as the words processed in his mind. “You…work together?” He repeated hesitantly, a feeling of doom settling over his shoulders as Izaya’s glare burned into his back.

“Yes.” The silver guy insisted with exasperation, nodding his head at Izaya. “Me and him team up for photo shoots all the time! We’ve been doing it for a while so we’ve gotten really familiar with each other. He forgot his uniform at work today so I brought it to him so he wouldn’t be breaking dress code when he goes back to class.”

He pointed at the uniform resting in Izaya’s lap, Shizuo’s mind distantly recognizing the black and silver outfit Izaya had worn this morning.

“See? It’s right there.” The silver guy said, sighing a little. “Me and Izaya-kun aren’t doing anything wrong here. You just jumped to conclusions and acted like an asshole.”

Shizuo’s ears burned with shame when he heard that, all his words slowly replaying in his mind. He really had acted like an asshole, hadn’t he? He’d saw them together, heard their conversation, and assumed the worst right off the bat. Then he’d come over here like some jealous boyfriend who’d caught his partner cheating and went off the handle.

On some poor guy who wasn’t even connected to the awkward situation from earlier that Shizuo had spilled his guts about at full volume. The whole café had probably heard them.

God, he was a piece of shit.

Shizuo instantly released the silver guy’s shirt, taking a few steps back and looking pointedly at the floor. “I’m…sorry.” He muttered in embarrassment, red coating his face as he stared at his feet. “I jumped to conclusions and I just…never mind.”

“Hey, I don’t care.” The silver guy said gently, his tone almost laced with amusement. “I actually sort of like it that you assumed I was dating Izaya-kun. It’d be an honor to date him, in my opinion! But it’s Izaya-kun that you need to apologize to.”

Shizuo’s eyes slowly moved up to meet the carmine glare looking at him in pure vengeance, its owner probably pissed beyond belief.

“Sorry, Izaya.” Shizuo mumbled, trying not to look away as those red eyes bored into him. “I shouldn’t have gone off like that.”

“Damn right you shouldn’t have.” Izaya growled, glaring at the blonde with venom. “Who the hell do you think you are? Do you think _you’re_ my boyfriend, huh? What gives you the right to come barging over here and picking a fight over my personal relationships? Even if you jumped to conclusions about us, that still doesn’t excuse that it wasn’t your place to yell at me about it.”

Shizuo bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to punch himself for being such an idiot. “Sorry.” He mumbled again, unsure of what else he could do as he looked guiltily back at the front counter. “I’ll just…go back to work now.”

“Thank you.” Izaya grumbled, still obviously pissed but at least a little mollified. “Get out of here, amoeba-brained asshole.”

…At least Shizuo hoped he was mollified.

“It was nice to meet you, Heiwajima-san!” The silver guy called after him with a hint of amusement in his kind voice. “A real pleasure!”

Shizuo didn’t like the way he said that. It sounded almost smug like he’d _planned_ the encounter or something.

He glanced over his shoulder at the silver guy, who was back to smiling kindly at Izaya and chatting with him like they were lovers, clearly taking some kind of joy in the way he was in charge of calming Izaya down now after that disaster.

His hand had taken hold of Izaya’s, and he was drawing smooth circles on the back of it with his thumb, speaking soothingly to Izaya all the while.

Izaya’s shoulders were tense but under the silver guy’s attention, he was beginning to relax again, letting out a heavy sigh and slumping back in his seat.

Shizuo didn’t like there. It was like the silver guy was taking advantage of Shizuo’s mistake to get closer to Izaya. He reeked of manipulative asshole, just like Izaya, even though it seemed like no one else saw anything but the nice guy mask.

Shizuo didn’t trust him. Not one bit. But, as Izaya had so logically pointed out, it wasn’t his place to say anything. What Izaya did was his own decision. Shizuo needed to stay out of this.

As the blonde returned to his position at the counter, apologizing in embarrassment to the shocked lady standing there and beginning on her order, he was hyper-aware of the conversation over to his right.

The silver guy told Izaya to change and head to class as soon as possible, standing up as if to leave, and Izaya jumped up to give him another quick hug. Izaya apologized for the fiasco, a line that made Shizuo’s shoulders tense up, but the silver guy just laughed and gave Izaya a quick kiss on the forehead. He said it was totally fine and that if he’d gotten the treatment from Izaya Shizuo had at lunch, he would’ve been upset seeing Izaya with some other guy, too.

Izaya blushed at the comment and shoved the silver guy away, mumbling something else that Shizuo couldn’t hear, but the silver guy laughed at and called Izaya a cutie for saying. Then he waved cheerfully at the raven-haired model and swept out of the café, nodding briefly to Shizuo with that same possibly-smug amusement before slipping away.

Shizuo finished the lady’s order and handed it to her, again apologizing for the show he put on. The lady placed a reassuring hand on his arm, smiling gently at him.  
“I’d have been upset if I’d seen my own love interest apparently dating someone else behind my back, too.” She told him, bringing a red blush to Shizuo’s cheeks.  
“H-He’s not my love interest! It’s not like that!” Shizuo insisted, praying that Izaya wasn’t watching him right now.

The lady raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile on her lips as she wished him a good day and headed out the door, coffee in hand.

Shizuo stood there at the counter, thinking about what the lady had said. It wasn’t possible, right? He hated Izaya. He’d hated him from the moment he’d seen him for the first time just this morning. There was no way that sheer anger and hatred was hiding something else beneath it.

Was there?

Shizuo hesitantly looked back over at Izaya, noticing that the raven was glaring daggers at him from the booth table and instantly dropped his gaze, pretending to check something on the cash register. There was no way that was possible. And even if it was, Izaya clearly hated him now.

After what he’d done, could he really blame him? Shizuo would hate himself, too. He already did, but that really wasn’t the point.

He watched Izaya out of the corner of his eye as the raven gathered up his things, tucking the uniform under his arm and heading quickly to the bathroom in the back of the café to change. Not even a minute passed before he was out again, dressed in the silver-black clothes he’d worn that morning, fixing his tie with an air of professionalism as he headed straight for the door.

He paused when he got there, glancing back once at Shizuo with something that seemed almost like disdain.

“See you tomorrow, Shizuo-kun.” He called across the café, though he seemed a lot less happy at the prospect of returning to piss off Shizuo than he had that morning, slipping out the door without another word.

A piece of paper fluttered down from his hand as he left though, and Shizuo frowned as he saw it hit the floor. What was that? Was that intentional? Accidental? Should Shizuo get it and try to return it to him?

Shizuo shook the thought of the paper out of his mind, focusing on the customer in front of him and deciding not to look at the paper until his shift was over and he was leaving for the day. If it was still there by then and it seemed important, he’d keep it and return it to Izaya next time he saw him.

The fact that Shizuo felt like he knew there’d be a next time made his stomach do a half-uncomfortable-half-pleasant flip flop. Maybe next time he could redeem himself. Or fuck up even worse. Or discover the true reason he hated Orihara Izaya’s guts so much.

As the action in the café wound down, most all customers now ignoring Shizuo and his outburst as they drank their coffee and left, Shizuo’s boss poked his head out of the back.

“You can probably start closing now, Shizuo.” The cheerful man said, apparently unaware of the customer Shizuo had threatened fifteen minutes ago. “I don’t think anyone else is going to be coming in for today.”

Shizuo nodded in understanding and began to clean up everything out front, the sounds of the workers in the bakery behind him doing the same wafting out to him. They all wished him a good night as they swept past him, done with their portion before he’d finished cleaning the floors, and Shizuo nodded back to them all as he silently continued his work.

When everything in the café was spotless like usual, all the machines were turned off, and all the chairs were stacked up on the tables, Shizuo wished his boss a good night and told him he’d see him tomorrow morning.

As he walked out the café, he saw Izaya’s paper still resting lightly on the floor, a tantalizing scrap of white that probably meant absolutely nothing.

But Shizuo’s fingers nonetheless reached down to grab it, and after a moment’s hesitation, he put it in his pocket. He’d read it when he got home. No need to do so instantly.

The entire train ride back to his parents’ place, Shizuo felt like the paper was burning a hole in his pocket. It felt impossibly heavy, like he couldn’t help but be aware of its presence as it lay there, crying out for attention. The paper was almost like Izaya himself – impossible to ignore not matter how small, slight, or delicate it seemed. His fingers kept fluttering into his pocket to touch it, almost like he was assuring himself that it was still there and hadn’t run off like Izaya seemed so fond of doing.

He practically ran home once the train stopped, dropping all his stuff and greeting his parents the quickest he ever had as he darted into his room. Once there, he slammed the door shut, locked it tightly, and grabbed the paper out of his pocket.

He stared at it for a long while, hands shaking, and slowly opened it.

On the paper was written one simple line. That was it. A single line of text and numbers, which made no sense to Shizuo’s brain.

_〒168-0062 Tōkyō-to, Suginami-ku, Hōnan, 2 Chome-5-29._

What the hell did that mean? It looked like an address. An apartment address of some kind. Why would an address be on a slip of paper in Izaya’s pocket? More importantly, why would he let it fall so that Shizuo could pick it up?

Maybe this was where he wanted to end Shizuo once and for all. This could be a location where he’d set up a deadly trap that Shizuo would never escape from. Or it could be the address of Izaya’s actual boyfriend or some kind of lover and the sadistic raven was trying to set up another shithole for Shizuo to fall into.

Whatever it was, Shizuo couldn’t bring himself to look it up or to throw the paper away. He tucked it carefully into his wallet, hoping this wouldn’t come back to bite him later, and threw himself down on his bed. He wasn’t going to shower or change into pajamas today. He just wanted to get right to sleep. There was another long day coming tomorrow, and Shizuo needed all the energy he could get for the fresh hell it would no doubt bring.

He had no idea just how right he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm...Shizuo doesn't trust Shinichi...the guy who's got really good intuition about people doesn't trust Mr. Perfect...this raises some concerns...
> 
> Well, I guess we'll just have to see how this plays out! Next we'll be jumping into Izaya's point of view and we'll finally get to see more Shinra! Shinra and Izaya best friend moments are coming up! Stay tuned!
> 
> Also, it was recently suggested to me that I start writing a blog (since I'm utterly hopeless with social media and posts but can somehow always find the time to write chapters and books) so I started a little blog on a website me and my family got set up for when I actually manage to publish a book. It doesn't have too much on it - we just started it - but feel free to look around it if you want. I'll probably update the blog every time I update a chapter here and maybe at random points in between if I find the time to write it. Hopefully, this works out better than my attempts to use Facebook do! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ
> 
> You can check it out if you want at http://jazmincollins.com/blog/. Today's post: The History of Goosebumps.
> 
> Well, I think that's all from me today. I'll see you next time with the next chapter! Let's see what Izaya is thinking and finally see some more Shinra! Bye! <3 <3 <3


	8. The Dark-Minded Doctor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Guess what day it is today? INTERNATIONAL FANWORKS DAY! Which I actually didn't know was a thing until today! But I'm super hyped for it all the same! XD
> 
> I was debating whether or not I wanted to do some kind of one-shot yesterday for Valentine's Day/Mairu and Kururi's birthday, but I ended up not finding the time for it. I might end up posting something late this weekend in honor of it. We'll see. We'll see.
> 
> Anyways! I'm super excited for this chapter, guys. We get to see some Shinra and Izaya moments back in action! Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it! See you at the end! <3

“Shizuo-kun did what?!” Shinra asked in shock, gaping at his best friend as they walked to psychology class together.

“He interrupted a conversation I was having with Shinichi at the café yesterday!” Izaya repeated, gnashing his teeth at just the thought of it. “I mean, can you believe the nerve?! Shinichi was just dropping off my uniform and chatting with me like we always do, then that blonde bastard came marching over like he was my jilted ex or something!”

“Jilted ex?” Shinra echoed, an edge of amusement creeping into the voice. “Describe the jilted ex's actions, if you don’t mind.”

“He came over, slammed his hands on the table, grabbed Shinichi by the shirt, yelled at me for messing with his mind, and seemed pissed beyond all reason that Shinichi even dared to exist in his presence.” Izaya said flatly, not a trace of emotion in his voice. “You know. The works.”

“Wow.” Shinra snickered, his crazy eyes sparkling in delight. “Shizuo-kun really _can_ get jealous after all!”

“I’m not sure if I’d called it ‘jealousy’.” Izaya snorted, opening the door to their classroom and letting Shinra pass before walking in himself. “It was more like ‘incomprehensibly-and-maddeningly-possessive-obsession’.”

Shinra laughed at this, the two of them heading straight for their seats in the back. “Well, I guess you two have some personality traits in common, then!” He said cheerfully, patting Izaya on the back. “Maybe you can bond over them.”

“What common traits?” Izaya demanded, baffled as he glared at his friend. “What about acting like a total dick is so common with me?”

Shinra just gave him a long, flat stare.

“Aside from the fact that I’m a total dick.” Izaya stated flatly.

Shinra sighed and shook his head. “Izaya, you and I both know that you get pretty upset when something in a relationship of yours doesn’t go right.” He said, giving Izaya a pointed look.

“I’ve never _been_ in a relationship.” Izaya retorted with a huff, setting his things down and planting himself in his seat heavily. “I don’t have the time.”

“I’m not just talking about dating here.” Shinra pointed out, sitting down beside him. “I’m talking about any kind of relationship you have! Friendships, family connections, classmates, teachers, all of them. You hate it when people don’t do what you think they should and you get extremely nervous when you can’t predict what their actions are. You begin to feel unsafe, and you pull away from them instantly.”

“That’s not true!” Izaya argued immediately, the tips of his ears going red as he glared fiercely at Shinra. “I’m good acquaintances with everyone in every single school, club, or outside event I’ve ever participated in!”

“Notice how you said ‘acquaintances’.” Shinra sighed calmly. “You’re too worried that one of them would smash your expectations that you refuse to get closer to them than that. You’re nice to everyone and you attract everyone’s attention because you want to pretend to be perfect and keep absolutely all your relationships artificial, superficial, easily breakable, and perfect. You create your own little bubble.”

“I don’t do that.” Izaya muttered, although a little voice in his mind was telling him otherwise. “I’m just nice to everyone because everyone expects me to be nice.”  
“You aren’t a people-pleaser, Izaya.” Shinra snorted, shaking his head. “You could care less what their expectations of you are and whether or not they’re happy with the way you act. You just found that the easiest way to keep everyone at arm’s length is to never show your weaknesses, never let them show theirs, and keep everyone happy and content with your false idea of perfection.”

“You know, it’s pretty ironic that you’re saying all this in psychology class.” Izaya smiled sweetly, slamming his textbook on the table perhaps a little harder than was necessary. “I’d almost think you were giving me a psych evaluation for your final project.”

“That’s not a bad idea!” Shinra chirped excitedly, pulling out a planner and writing it down. “You’re so screwed up in the head that I could literally take any approach I wanted! Abusive childhood, long history of neglect, repressive depression, inferiority complex, problems with intimacy, perfectionism, OCD, multiple personality disorder-”

“I don’t have that last one.” Izaya frowned, staring at his friend.

“You change the way you act so much depending on different situations that I bet I could scientifically prove otherwise!” Shinra said cheerfully.

“Idiot.” Izaya sighed, flipping open his notebook as the teacher began their lecture up front. “Just pay attention to class.”

“This is your last class of the day, right?” Shinra asked, humming happily as he began to take notes. “And you don’t have any clubs after this either?”

“I’d normally have a student council meeting but it was canceled today because the president got sick.” Izaya informed him, scribbling down his own notes even though he really didn’t need them. “And it wasn’t going to be that important of a meeting, anyway. Just discussing and approving the budget for the other clubs.”

“That sounds important.” Shinra commented. “Was anyone upset that the president canceled it?”

“Oh, without a doubt.” Izaya said breezily, pencil scrawling flawlessly over his paper. “Hence why I accepted the position of _vice_ president. I’m one of the faces of the organization, I have more power than most other members, I’m seen, heard, and respected by everyone, I make the policies and plan the events everybody loves, but when it all comes down to it, the success of the council depends on the decisions and actions of the president. He takes all the bad rap for whatever goes wrong. I’m the angel who swoops in and supports the club to make things go right.”

“So even though you seem humble by accepting a lower position, you’re really only doing it to guarantee your popularity in the school and then raise it.” Shinra nodded in understanding. “You, Orihara-kun, are definitely an asshole.”

“Indeed.” Izaya shrugged. “But only you know that.”

“Anyways, moving on from the extensive topic of your dubious morals!” Shinra said cheerfully. “How about you and I go somewhere together after class? I’ve only got one more after this and it’s a lab so I should be done in twenty minutes, tops.”

“You want to do something?” Izaya asked in surprise, looking over at his friend. “You never want to go anywhere after class. You’re always begging me to drop my clubs, ignore the events I’m supposed to attend, and stop being popular so that we can just laze about at home.”

“And as nice as that sounds, today we should try something different.” Shinra nodded in determination. “In fact, I’m certain of it. Today’s the day you and I go out to do something and bond!”

“Like what?” Izaya asked skeptically, raising his hand to answer one of the teacher’s questions. “Karaoke? Bowling? Lunch at a café?”

“Don’t be so dull.” Shinra scoffed, waiting patiently as Izaya rattled off a graduate-level answer to the delight of the class.

“Okay then.” Izaya sighed as he sat back down, smiling sweetly at all of the people around them who were looking at him in awe and admiration. “What did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking maybe we should go to a science museum, or a forensics exhibit!” Shinra grinned, eyes sparkling.

“Yes. Because those sound so much less dull than what I suggested.” Izaya said flatly, rolling his eyes. “You and I both suck at this friendship thing, don’t we?”

“Yeah.” Shinra admitted, scratching the back of his head. “Maybe we should just go somewhere nearby with good food to eat so we can plan what to do next.”

“Sounds fine to me.” Izaya shrugged. “And I don’t have any photo shoots today so we should be good for the entire day; we don’t need to rush things.”

“Speaking of photo shoots,” Shinra looked at Izaya pointedly. “How’s the new deal with Heiwajima-san going?”

“Well, we haven’t actually done anything together yet.” Izaya admitted with a frown. “Our boss is saving everything for some stupid twelve-hour shoot this weekend.”  
“Twelve hours?!” Shinra shrieked, gaping at his friend. “That’s gotta be illegal somewhere!”

“Hey, I’m getting paid good money for those twelve hours so I’m cool with it.” Izaya shrugged again. “And Shinichi promised to bring me lunch and act as moral support if hanging out with Kasuka gets to be too much.”

“Of course he did.” Shinra muttered, rolling his eyes. “Shinichi always swoops in to the rescue, doesn’t he?”

“Why do you hate Shinichi so much? He’s a great guy!” Izaya insisted, glaring at his friend.

“He’s _too_ great, that’s why!” Shinra huffed. “It’s sketchy! And I don’t know anything about his past or personal life, which makes him even sketchier!”

“You’re just paranoid.” Izaya muttered, raising his hand again.

“Maybe a little. But I think my suspicions are well-founded when it comes to that silver-haired snake.” Shinra scribbled down some more notes as Izaya smoothly answered the teacher’s question. “I’m kinda glad Shizuo-kun ruined your little meeting with him.”

“Don’t say that.” Izaya snapped, glaring harshly as he sat down again. “It was humiliating and unwanted. I had to apologize to Shinichi so much after that.”

“And yet, you still visited Shizuo-kun at the café this morning.” Shinra commented, giving Izaya a pointed look.

“I was visiting you, not Shizuo.” Izaya growled, refusing to look back at the wannabe-doctor. “I was pissed with that blonde gorilla.”

“He told me this morning that you left behind some kind of paper when you left yesterday.” Shinra announced, still staring at the raven. “He didn’t tell me what it said. I don’t even know if he’s looked at it yet. What was on the paper?”

“Nothing important.” Izaya snapped, cheeks turning red. Stupid protozoan, spreading that around. “It was just a simple address.”

“Address to what?” Shinra wondered, a bit of a grin creeping onto his face. “I think I know already, but I want to hear it from you.”

“I will tell you nothing.” Izaya said immediately, slamming his textbook shut as the teacher called for volunteers to demonstrate something to the class. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to do this thing no one else wants to do so that they all love me even more.”

“And the conversation has come back full circle.” Shinra chirped cheerfully, grinning as Izaya stalked around him and down to the front of the classroom, brilliant smile firmly in place on his face. “That’s Izaya for you.”

As Izaya began to copy the teacher’s movements up front, demonstrating some weird Freudian principle with his body, Shinra began to think about where he would take Izaya after class. He didn’t want to go somewhere average. He also didn’t want to go somewhere that would make it seem like a date. And he certainly didn’t want to go somewhere in the city because that meant they were nearly bound to run into Shinichi somewhere.

Shinichi always managed to pop up out of nowhere whenever Shinra and Izaya went someplace together, usually on grocery trips or shopping sprees. It was like he had an Izaya-detector that told him where the raven was at all times and informed him of the best possible moment to appear. Like Shinra said, too perfect.

So they needed to leave the city, but not go too terribly far, and find something that would entertain both of them. After they visited a nearby café or something to discuss the matter, of course.

Or wait…maybe they wouldn’t even have to leave the city. Maybe all they needed was something that would deter Shinichi from showing up. A Shinichi-deterrent! Something that could make him stay away as long as possible! Something to keep the wild Shinichi from appearing!

Another grin crept over Shinra’s face as he pulled out his cell phone, ready to send a text that Izaya would’ve no doubt ended him for if he’d been there.

**Shinra: [Hey! Wanna hang out later today around 3? I’m not busy and we haven’t hung out together in so long…]**

Shinra waited, eagerly staring at his phone as he waited for the response that would either ruin his day or make it one of the best days he’d ever had.

Only about two minutes had passed, and Izaya was still up at the front as a demonstration for the teacher, when the text arrived.

**Shizuo: [Sure. My boss just gave me the afternoon off because I’ve been pulling too much overtime lately. What do you have in mind?]**

Many people would probably be shocked to hear that Heiwajma Shizuo texted in complete sentences. He didn’t seem like the intellectual type, after all, and his words in real life were always gruff and blunt and as short as possible. But that was exactly why Shizuo did it. It was one of the few places he felt safe speaking in clear, concise sentences without getting angry at the drop of a hat. He could always put down his phone and send a reply later if the conversation was starting to annoy him. It was perfect.

Also, Shinra was pretty sure Shizuo had no idea what texting language was and would probably butcher it horribly if he tried to start using things like “lol” and “2” instead of “too”. It was best to just leave him thinking everyone texted in sentences.

**Shinra: [I’m not sure yet. Something interesting and nothing that makes us seem like we’re on a date, you know? XP.]**

Whoops. He probably shouldn’t have sent that last emoticon. It might’ve confused Shizuo. But he got a response just a few seconds later which thankfully didn’t seem too focused on it.

**Shizuo: [XP? Are we talking about video games now? You know I don’t understand those references.]**

A few seconds later, there was another text.

**Shizuo: [Anyway, how about we go to an arcade if you feel like playing games. There’s a few cool ones I’ve been wanting to go to.]**

An arcade? Izaya might not be so into those. And Shinra wanted Izaya to be so into what was going on that he wouldn’t ditch them once he saw Shizuo’s face.

**Shinra: [You sure? An arcade sounds pretty mainstream…]**

Hopefully, Shizuo would get the hint and come up with a better idea. Shinra didn’t know what else to do.

Izaya was wrapping up the demonstrations down at the front. There were only three more activities the teacher had listed for him to do. They needed to figure this out fast!

**Shizuo: [Not this one in Kawasaki. I’ve seen pictures online and it’s awesome. Plus, I’ll fit right in with the usual crowd.]**

What? An arcade where Shizuo was willing to say he’d fit in? Shizuo, the near-high-school-dropout delinquent who worked all day as a living, had dyed hair, and superhuman strength? What sort of arcade was this?

**Shinra: [It’s not some yakuza hangout spot, right?]**

He just had to be sure.

Two seconds later, he got his answer.

**Shizuo: [What? No!! Look, it’s a cool place. I promise. It’s called Anata no Warehouse. Please?]**

Ah…he used the “please” card. Shizuo rarely asked Shinra for anything. He preferred to be independent and self-sufficient on all levels of his life. More often than naught, Shinra was the one asking Shizuo for help while Shizuo demanded nothing in return. On those precious few occasions where there was something Shizuo really wanted from Shinra, he would ask with these rare pleases…and Shinra could never deny him what he wanted.

**Shinra: […Fine. I’ll meet you at Tokyo Station.]**

The response was almost immediate. Shizuo must’ve really been looking forward to this.

**Shizuo: [Great! It’s a fifteen-minute ride to Kawasaki station, and then a ten-minute walk. I’ll see you there.]**

Shinra wished his friend a quick goodbye, slipping his phone into his pocket right as Izaya slid back into the seat next to him.

“What were you doing? I saw you on your phone the entire time.” Izaya asked curiously, peering at the device in Shinra’s pocket. “What secrets are you hiding?”

“You’re a nosy little thing.” Shinra huffed, pretending to be invested in the lesson below. “It doesn’t matter. I made some plans for our trip, is all.”

“Oh. Were you looking up places to go?” Izaya asked in surprise, cocking his head at Shinra. “That’s unusual. Normally, you hate preparing for anything.”

“Well, this time I had a change of heart.” Shinra responded, not meeting the carmine eyes boring into the side of his face. “We’re going to an arcade in Kawasaki.”

“An arcade?” Izaya repeated, wrinkling his nose a little. “You sure?”

“Positive.” Shinra nodded, writing down some fake notes since he wasn’t really paying attention to their teacher anymore. “It’ll be fun.”

“Hm…” Izaya stared probingly at Shinra for a few more seconds, but shrugged and returned to the lesson soon enough. “Alright. You picked it. I’m sure it’s not normal and that’s good enough for me.”

An arcade where Shizuo would blend in probably wasn’t normal at all. Izaya had that right. Hm…and if it was a place where Shizuo blended in…then Shinra highly doubted he’d see that silver snake of perfection anywhere in the vicinity.

A new grin stretched Shinra’s face as delight filled his body. This trip might turn out even better than he could’ve hoped! The only potential problem he could see was if Izaya and Shizuo tried to kill each other the instant they saw one another.

But Shinra was sure that wouldn’t happen. Shizuo wasn’t a murderer at heart, no matter what anyone said, and Izaya was way too head-over-heels attracted to the blonde to try anything, no matter what _he_ said.

Everything would be just fine. A little tense perhaps, but just fine.

…Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shinra's playing the wingmaaaaan! As always, he is their biggest supporter. XD How will this secret-date set-up go? And will Shinichi show up after all, despite all of Shinra's attempts to get Shizuo and Izaya together? Who knows! But we should all find out next month!!
> 
> This chapter was a little shorter than some of the other ones for this story have been in the past, but don't worry - the next chapter should make up for it. In other news, I was thinking about starting another monthly fanfiction based around a premise for a new story idea I came up with, but I'm not sure if I'll have enough time for it with all the other stuff I've got going on. I might.
> 
> Oh, and if you're interested in the blog I'm putting up alongside this story, the next post will go up right after this chapter does! I just finished writing it so you'll be seeing it soon! Today's post is called "Monkey Business...Or, a Small Rant about Monkeys and Parks".
> 
> Until next time! Can't wait to show you guys what happens next! <3 <3 <3


	9. The Colorful Couple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! So some of you might be wondering why the story was updated early this time and not on the 15th like it normally has been going up. Some of you might not have even noticed it was early. Some of you might not have known that this story always updated on the 15th. And some of you might not actually care. But I'm going to let you all know why it's been updated early this time.
> 
> You see, on the 15th of March, I'm actually not going to be in the country. I'm going on a short "study abroad preview" trip that my school offers during Spring Break, so I'm going to be in China! Yep: isn't that exciting?! I'm really hyped for it! `~*~Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ~*~` Anyways, while I'm in China, I won't have access to AO3 (it's a sad thing, I know) for a few reasons.
> 
> One: Supposedly, all the wifi gets shut off at about 11 pm for the entire country. This is something that the teacher who's taking us on the trip warned us about. I'm about to go see if that's true, and if it is, then this story would be very hard to update. See reason three for details.
> 
> Two: I don't have enough money to pay for an internet plan abroad. Enough said there.
> 
> Three: All of our days in China are completely booked from beginning to end with a class itinerary. So there's not really a moment to ourselves.
> 
> and Four: I'm not going to be allowed to bring my laptop. Apparently, they get stolen way too much so the teacher highly advised against bringing them. So I'm leaving mine here which means I'd have to type everything on my phone...which would not be fun. Also, it would probably be much worse quality than what I type on my laptop because I would probably get frustrated and do something much shorter and less edited than usual. I don't want to do that to you guys.
> 
> So end result: I'm updating early today!
> 
> Hope you guys don't mind. The next chapter should come out right on time on April 15th, back on the normal schedule. I'll leave a note in bold below to let people know this as well. I don't want anyone getting super confused when the story doesn't update.
> 
> Anyways, until next time! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter! <3

**Carmine Coffee will not update on the 15th of March; this is an early release for the chapter. The next chapter will be out on April 15th. See above note for more details.**

Shizuo frowned at the text he got from Shinra, waiting just outside Tokyo Station for his crazy, doctor-wannabe coworker/friend to show up.

**Shinra: [Sorry about this last-minute notice but something really urgent came up just now! You head to the arcade without me - I’m gonna be about fifteen minutes late.]**

What the hell? Wasn’t Shinra the guy who always had a plan for everything? It was weird for something to come up last-minute like this that he hadn’t already planned for and figured out a way to get around. Was something wrong? Some kind of family emergency? Or was it his imaginary girlfriend Celty again?

Shizuo scowled at the thought – he wouldn’t put it past Shinra to ditch him for that fake girlfriend he seemed to be obsessed with – and angrily typed out his responding message.

**Shizuo: [Seriously? This better not be about Celty again. I swear, if you cancel on me one more time because of this imaginary girlfriend of yours, I’m calling someone to get your head looked at. Mainly because I’ll have just bashed it in!]**

Alright, maybe that had been a bit much. But still. Shinra shouldn’t just ditch his friends like that all the time. Shizuo sighed, leaning his head against the wall behind him and staring up at the sky as people filtered in and out of the station next to him. He’d really wanted to go to this arcade, too. Was it even worth it now that Shinra wasn’t coming? Shizuo didn’t want to go by himself and feel all awkward standing there. He was so bad at fitting in with normal people! Even in a place like Anata no Warehouse, which actually looked more his speed than so many other hang-out spots, he still might mess up somehow if he didn’t have someone there to calm him down.

A buzzing in his hand alerted Shizuo to his friend’s response and the blonde looked down at his phone immediately, hoping he wasn’t about to murder Shinra today.

**Shinra: [No! It’s not about Celty (and she’s not imaginary) this time! There was a family emergency that came up and it’s going to delay me for a few minutes. I’m not cancelling on you! I’ll make it there – you’re just going to be there on your own for a little while first. Alright? Please don’t kill me…]**

Shizuo scowled, running a hand through his dyed hair as he glared at the phone. So it _was_ some kind of family emergency. Well, Shizuo supposed that made things a little different. At least it wasn’t the (definitely imaginary) girlfriend. And Shinra _did_ say that he wasn’t cancelling – he was just going to be a little late.

Shizuo really wanted to go to this arcade. He was willing to wait a few minutes if it meant he’d be able to go.

**Shizuo: [Alright, alright. I won’t kill you. Do you want me to just wait at the station for you, though? If it’s only going to be fifteen minutes, I have no problem waiting.]**

The reply came back in about two seconds, much sooner than Shizuo had expected.

**Shinra: [No! No, you go on ahead without me. I’ll catch up. Really. It’s fine.]**

Shizuo frowned at that. Shinra’s texting almost seemed hurried right there. Like he was trying to cover something up…

Nah, Shizuo was probably just being paranoid. He was too stupid to actually pick up on anything like that on his own.

**Shizuo: [Whatever. I’ll see you there.]**

Shizuo slipped his phone into his pocket before he could see Shinra’s reply, deciding to ignore the idiot from now until he was actually at Anata no Warehouse waiting for him. Hopefully, that would assuage some of the irritation he had for his friend before they ended up spending several hours together.

As Shizuo walked down into the station, pulling out his wallet and checking to make sure he had his train pass on him, his phone vibrated in his pocket with Shinra’s reply. Had Shizuo looked at his phone then, he might’ve seen something that would’ve made him second guess this sudden trip to the arcade with Shinra, no matter how excited he was to go.

**Shinra: [Also, when I get there, I have a little surprise in store for you, Shizuo-kun. ;)]**

But Shizuo remained oblivious to this ominous message, ignoring the buzzing in his pocket in favor of slipping through the crowds of people traveling to and from areas all over the country, sliding his train pass out to get through the busy gates of Tokyo station, and finding the correct platform that his train was departing from. 

He didn’t check his phone once on the fifteen-minute ride to Kawasaki, choosing instead to watch out the windows of the train as it sped along through the city. He rarely got to travel by train after all, despite how common it was for people in his country to commute by it. Everything he needed to get to was in walking distance, and he only ever went to his house, work, and the grocery store. That was pretty much it. There wasn’t anything else Shizuo did in his life, and certainly nothing that required the use of a train to get from one point to another.

Actually, he might want to cancel his train pass at that rate. No sense in paying a monthly fee for unlimited access if he never used the train.

“I’ll have to do that later today or something.” Shizuo muttered to himself as the train sped along, his golden eyes flickering over the blurred scenery outside. “It’s not like I’ll suddenly find myself going out all the time anytime soon.”

As the train made its way smoothly down the tracks, stopping at various stations for a brief exchange of passengers, then continuing on in the typical efficient manner of Japanese transportation, Shizuo found himself thinking about something that had been on his mind for a while now.

The address Izaya dropped at the café.

This morning when Mr. Perfect had come in to buy himself some coffee, Shizuo had been meaning to ask about it. Play it cool and pretend he was just returning a customer’s lost item of course, but still ask about it. He’d been fiddling with the damn thing in his pocket all throughout his shift, head snapping up whenever someone walked through the door, heart pounding as he waited to see a flash of silky, raven hair or glittering carmine eyes.

Shizuo told himself it was just because he wanted to know what the stupid address even was and if Izaya had dropped it intentionally or not. It was fucking weird and it had kept him up for a good portion of the night before, just trying to think of what it could be. He’d put the address into Google Maps and all that had come up was some weird alleyway on a tiny street somewhere. It wasn’t even a proper building. Just an alleyway. What the heck was up with that?

Why did Izaya have an address to some random alleyway in his pocket?

Shizuo frowned as his fingers slipped into his pocket again, holding onto the strange paper still resting there. When he’d seen Izaya this morning, the raven had shot him such a murderous glare that Shizuo hadn’t even been able to bring it up. He’d been too busy trying not to punch the glare off Izaya’s perfect face. So here he was, the paper still in his pocket, with not a single clue as to what it was. And it was still bugging him just as much as before.

Shizuo supposed that was part of the reason he’d been so eager to go somewhere with Shinra today. He had the afternoon off from work and nothing else to do, and that paper would’ve absorbed nearly all of his attention if he’d just gone home. Hanging out with Shinra instead, especially at a place that Shizuo really wanted to go to, was the perfect distraction from that stupid paper and all things Izaya.

When the automated voice on the train announced Kawasaki station, Shizuo smoothly stood up from his seat along with a rush of passengers, exiting the vehicle in the swarming sea of commuters. He made his way out of the train station, half his mind still preoccupied with the mysterious paper burning a hole in his pocket, and began the ten-minute walk that he’d looked up on his phone and memorized before heading out earlier.

It didn’t take him very long to reach the place. The more he’d walked, the more excited he’d become to finally see it, and soon barely five minutes had passed before Shizuo found himself turning a corner filled with shining skyrises and corporate buildings, and coming face-to-face with the most rusted, dirty, run-down looking place he’d ever seen.

It was right in the middle of all the nice, new buildings beside it, each of them soaring up into the sky with their glittering windows all over. Their expensive look made the run-down building in their midst stand out even more, its brown rust and stained streaks of ruin making it look like it had been built nearly a century ago and had never been cleaned. Faded letters in Japanese and English painted across the front of it declared it Anata no Warehouse: Amusement Game Park.

There it was.

Shizuo stopped in front of the rusted building, gazing up at it with a huge grin. It looked so much more run-down in person! All the pictures he’d seen online looked like this but standing in front of it, Shizuo could actually smell the rust, feel the age of the building, and just **know** that this was a bad place to be.

It was perfect.

“Now all I have to do is wait for Shinra.” Shizuo told himself aloud, still staring at the daunting building. “Man, I hope he shows up soon.” 

Shizuo spent his time gazing at the ruined “warehouse”, just admiring the incredible quality of the absolute rubbish building before him, and lost in a world of his own. People went in and out of the warehouse around him, some of them giving him strange looks as they passed, most of them just glancing at him and moving on with their lives. They minded their own business. They didn’t bother anyone for being different or weird or for standing on a street and gazing up at a run-down building.

They didn’t treat him like a freak. They treated him like just another person on the street.

Shizuo liked this place already.

“…zuo-kun. Shizuo-kun!”

Shizuo blinked in surprise and turned around, shocked out of his happy reverie by the sound of his name.

He saw a grinning, scrawny boy standing right behind him, glasses glinting in the sunlight around them and framing sparkling brown eyes. Ah. So he was finally here.  
“About time you turned around!” Shinra chirped, punching Shizuo cheerfully in the shoulder. “I’ve been calling your name for a few minutes.”

“That’s not so bad. I’ve been waiting for you a lot longer.” Shizuo muttered, rubbing his shoulder more out of a need to do something with his hands than any pain at the weak punch. He frowned at Shinra, who was grinning suspiciously wide and still just standing there. “What are you doing? Shouldn’t we go inside now?” Shizuo asked in irritation, his eyes narrowing at the wannabe-doctor. “What are you waiting for?”

“For you to notice your surprise!” Shinra sang as though it was obvious, leaning towards Shizuo with glittering eyes. “Didn’t you get my text?”

“Your text?” Shizuo frowned, pulling his phone swiftly out of his pocket and checking his messages.

There it was. A single missed message from one Kishitani Shinra.

Shizuo’s frown deepened as he read the message, his confusion only growing when he looked back up at Shinra. “What surprise?” He demanded. “What the hell are you talking about, Shinra? I don’t see anything.”

“Try looking a little to your left, you protozoic gorilla.” A sharp voice said haughtily, making the very blood in Shizuo’s veins begin to boil at just the sound. “It’s a wonder you haven’t been stabbed already like the delinquent you are with the level of observational skill you possess.”

Must not look. Must not confirm. Must not accept this nightmare.

“Now, now, Orihara-kun.” Shinra said cheerfully, shattering Shizuo’s attempt at self-delusion. “Let’s play nice here! We’re all here to have a good time!”

“A good time?” The sharp voice asked incredulously. “How am I supposed to do that with this asshole in the near vicinity?”

“Speak for yourself!” Shizuo growled, his control snapping as his head turned sharply to face the perpetrator of his misery as of late. The very person he’d been trying to get away from with this stupid arcade trip.

And there he was, clad in simple blue jeans and a slightly loose, dove-gray long-sleeve shirt. There was one black ball earring in his right ear as well. That was it. That was fucking all Mr. Perfect was wearing – jeans, a plain gray shirt, and an earring – and he still managed to make it look like he should be strutting on the front cover of some fashion magazine.

Orihara Izaya. Why couldn’t Shizuo get away from him?!

Those carmine eyes locked on Shizuo with that fury from this morning still present in them, a scowl marring the beautiful features of the raven’s face.

“You want me to speak for myself?” He asked Shizuo, making it sound like the very idea was even more ridiculous than saying the earth was flat. “What the hell did _I_ do to warrant _your_ disgust and anger? You’re the only one who’s been a complete jerk in the whopping two days we’ve known each other!”

Had it really only been two days? Shizuo felt like he’d known and loathed this guy for years.

“That’s bullshit!” Shizuo roared, deciding to push that matter aside for now as he grabbed the front of Izaya’s shirt, pulling the raven into his face. “You’ve done your fair share of tormenting me!”

“How?” Izaya demanded, not even flinching away from Shizuo’s rage as he stared the blonde coolly in the eyes. “How have I tormented you at all? All I’ve done is exist in your presence.”

“You did a whole lot more at lunch yesterday.” Shizuo growled, recalling the incident with Kasuka with unfortunate clarity.

“Oh yes. Pardon me for sitting in your lap and petting your hair.” Izaya hissed, a lot blunter than Shizuo had expected him to be. “Next time, I’ll rip it out. Would that help your conflicting feelings towards me?”

“What conflicting feelings?” Shizuo growled, his fist clenching even tighter in Izaya’s shirt as he pulled the raven closer, pressing their foreheads together. “I don’t have any conflict in the pure hate I’m sending your way.”

“Oh, keep telling yourself that.” Izaya smirked smugly, his eyes glittering with some kind of sick delight as he pressed his own forehead harder against Shizuo’s. “I was right there when you rubbed up against me like some lovesick puppy after I pet your head for a few seconds. You were into me.”

“I was not!” Shizuo growled, unable to help the childish tone his voice took on. God, he sounded like some fucking kindergartner arguing about whether or not he’d pissed himself. “ _You_ were into _me._ ”

“Yes, I was.” Izaya said flatly, still staring Shizuo straight in his eyes. “I thought you were sexy, Shizuo-kun.”

That…that did not sound like a kindergartner at all.

Shizuo’s brain short-circuited for several seconds, the blonde simply holding Izaya in the air as he tried to process exactly what had just been said. In the meantime, Izaya just hung there, still giving Shizuo that stupid, smug smirk.

And Shinra was watching them both with a happy grin, apparently thrilled that their interaction was going so well.

Eventually, after two minutes of pure emotional and mental turmoil, Shizuo’s brilliant mind finally came up with a response.

“The fuck?” He asked dumbly, staring at Izaya.

The raven stared back, red eyes looking into Shizuo’s golden orbs searchingly as though he was trying to figure out if Shizuo was playing dumb or seriously didn’t understand what he was saying.

“I thought you were sexy.” He repeated slowly, as if talking to a child. “But now I’m beginning to have second thoughts, what with that dumb look on your face.”  
Shizuo blinked again, then swiftly set the raven down on his feet, backing a few steps away as his “dumb face” turned red.

“S-Shut up.” He growled, turning away from Izaya and looking firmly at the warehouse. “Look, I may seem like the dumbest guy on earth to you, but I’m not completely stupid. I know you’re just screwing with me. You can’t possibly be attracted to me.”

“Wait what?” Izaya sounded confused from behind Shizuo, and Shizuo swore he could feel the red gaze looking him up and down. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m a delinquent-looking _rounin_ (*term used in Japan for people who are unable to get into college after graduating high school and enter the workforce instead) who works at a café and is about as physically appealing as a gorilla.” Shizuo said harshly, keeping his back turned to the raven as his cheeks burned with fury and shame. “Someone like you…you stupidly perfect asshole…can’t possibly be attracted to someone like me. So don’t fuck with my emotions like that.”

Before Izaya could say anything else – like some other obvious lie or sharp comment – Shizuo began to walk towards the entrance to the warehouse. “Come on, Shinra.” He called over his shoulder. “I don’t even care if Mr. Perfect comes along at this point. I just want to go in here and relieve some stress.”

“Okie-dokie!” Shinra chirped cheerfully. “Just one second!”

There was some rushed murmuring behind Shizuo from the crazy duo behind him, and what sounded like a cry of shock or disbelief from Izaya followed by Shinra’s frantic whispering, before he heard two pairs of footsteps following him in.

“Orihara-kun is going to be on his best behavior now!” Shinra sang, popping up on Shizuo’s left side as they entered the rusting building and found themselves in some kind of parking garage. “He promised.”

“I promised nothing.” Izaya muttered, appearing like a phantom on Shizuo’s right and refusing to look up at the blonde as he walked gracefully beside him. “But I’ll try not to offend you with my existence while we’re in here.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” Shizuo muttered back, genuinely curious to know the raven’s plan. The three of them stopped at a strange door painted with a seemingly ancient yin-yang symbol, right beneath big English letters that spelled ‘WAREHOUSE’. It looked almost ominous, and Shinra started to fidget at Shizuo’s side, eyeing the ancient, rusting door skeptically.

“Simple.” Izaya said in a breezy voice, stepping past both of them and right in front of the yin-yang symbol. The door opened with a hiss in front of him, revealing a long, dark corridor lit by eerie red light.

The raven turned back to look at Shizuo with a smile, the red light reflecting in his inky hair and illuminating his figure like it was his own personal aura. And it was weird, but for some reason, creepy red light made Izaya look…friendlier.

“I’m going to pretend this is the first time we’ve met.” Izaya finished his statement, pulling Shizuo back into the present. “And hopefully, we’ll make a better first impression on each other.”

So saying, Izaya stood there in the entrance to the arcade, holding his hand out to Shizuo with a friendly smile. “Hi! My name is Orihara Izaya.” He chirped, carmine eyes sparkling like gems. “It’s a pleasure to meet one of Shinra’s only other friends.”

“Hey!” Shinra complained, but he was looking with rapt attention back and forth between the two of them, almost like he was holding his breath for what Shizuo was about to do next.

Shizuo stared at the outstretched hand bathed in red light, wondering if this was a good idea.

After all, this guy was the culmination of everything Shizuo hated. He was everything Shizuo could never be, and he flaunted it so proudly. Not to mention he seemed set on convincing Shizuo that the blonde had _feelings_ for him. As if! This guy was just a prick who didn’t know how to handle people who didn’t bow at his feet the instant he walked by. All he was doing was playing with Shizuo’s emotions, and then he was going to drop him like a rock the instant Shizuo fell for his game.

Still…the idea of starting over did sound kind of nice. Even if it was just pretend. Even if it wouldn’t erase all the stupid mistakes they’d both made within two freaking days of knowing each other. It’d be nice to hit reset, and just try again.

“Hey.” Shizuo said flatly, grabbing the slender hand and looking the smiling, fake, lying, perfect boy straight in his fake, lying, perfect eyes. “Name’s Heiwajima Shizuo. Let’s not kill each other this time around.”

Izaya’s eyes filled with mirth as the friendly smile twisted into something of a sly grin. “Heiwajima-san…” The raven said teasingly, giving Shizuo’s shoulder a light shove. “You’re already messing up the game. We’ve never met before, remember?”

“It’s okay to mention it at the start.” Shizuo said flippantly, unable to help the small smile that crept over his lips at Izaya’s playful behavior. “After this, the game starts.”

“Oh?” Izaya’s eyes filled with laughter at that even if none escaped his lips, and he glanced over his shoulder at the eerie corridor. “How about once we all pass through this hallway it starts?”

“Deal.” Shizuo agreed, giving Izaya’s hand a firm shake before letting his own drop to his side. “After that, you’ll be Orihara-san.”

“What am I now?” Izaya laughed, shooting Shizuo a big grin. “I actually don’t think you’ve called me anything besides Mr. Perfect, asshole, bastard, and piece of shit.”

Shizuo winced as he heard those, thinking back to the few conversations he’d had up until with Izaya. Unfortunately, the raven seemed to be right. Never once had Izaya’s name fallen from Shizuo’s lips. He hadn’t even realized that.

“Right now you’re…still Orihara-san?” Shizuo said slowly, although the syllables sounded wrong on his tongue.

Izaya made a face as well, clearly indicating his thoughts on the title. “Ew. No. Sounds wrong.” He said instantly, glancing over at Shinra. “Shinra, what should he call me?”

“Heck if I know.” Shinra sang with a shrug, his eyes glittering with absolute delight as he looked back and forth between his friends. “How about you pick friendly nicknames for each other now before we go inside and do this thing?”

Friendly nicknames? Shizuo wasn’t too good with those. All he could think to say when looking at Izaya was still Mr. Perfect.

“How about since you’ve been so rude to me up until this point, and you’ve only insulted me whenever speaking to me, I get to make your nickname something super informal and insulting about you.” Izaya suggested, his eyes glittering as he pointed at Shizuo. “That’s fair, right? I’ll make it something that people would normally say to each other, but it’ll demean you in some way, shape, or form. Got it?”

Shizuo grumbled at this, not really liking the idea of agreeing to be demeaned, but judging by all the things he’d called Izaya up to this point, the model probably had a right to do something back.

“Fine.” Shizuo muttered. “But I’m picking your nickname first.”

“Fine!” Izaya sang back. “What is it?”

Shizuo thought for a few moments, long and hard. Nothing really came to mind. “Your name is…” He started to say, mind racing to come up with something as Izaya and Shinra both watched him expectantly. “Is…Izaya…kun?”

“That’s it?” Izaya pouted with brief disappointment. “Izaya-kun? That’s the best you can do?”

“Hey, shut up!” Shizuo snapped, glaring at the raven as his fists clenched at his sides. “It’s a perfectly normal thing to call someone!”

“Okay, okay. Don’t get mad.” Izaya said breezily, waving a carefree hand at Shizuo as if blowing away his anger. “I’m now Izaya-kun. It’s nice. Not a lot of people call me that. Even Shinra still calls me Orihara-kun.”

“That’s true.” Shinra admitted, giving Shizuo a big smile. “It’s not often someone gets the rare permission from Orihara-kun to use his first name! Consider yourself honored!”

Shizuo almost, _almost_ mentioned that the silver guy from before had called Izaya by his first name, and that he’d actually called Izaya Izaya-kun as well. But he managed to hold his tongue for once in his life, simply nodding and accepting the weird form of praise from his friend.

“Izaya-kun.” Shizuo said again, and let the syllables roll of his tongue. Those felt a lot more natural. Yeah. Those ones felt right. “Izaya-kun.” He said with confidence, nodding his head firmly and looking Izaya in the eyes. “You’re definitely Izaya-kun.”

“Yes, yes. I know my name. Don’t wear it out.” Izaya said teasingly, although Shizuo could’ve sworn there was a red blush creeping over his pale cheeks that wasn’t from the light behind him.

“Anyways!” The boy chirped, snapping Shizuo’s attention back to their conversation. He grinned evilly at Shizuo, planting his hands on his hips as though he was about to make a grand declaration. “I now dub thee to be!” He paused for dramatic effect, then clapped his hands loudly and flung them out towards Shizuo like some kind of game show host gesturing at a new car. “Shizu-chan!” He cried dramatically, eyes sparkling like he was about to kill himself with laughter. “It fits you perfectly!”

“What the fuck? That’s a nickname for girls!” Shizuo yelled, glaring at Izaya as embarrassment tinged his own cheeks red. “I’m not a fucking ‘chan’!”

“You are to me.” Izaya sang, giggling as he spun gracefully on his heel and faced down the red corridor. “And ‘chan’ doesn’t _have_ to be used with girls, you know. Couples use it together all the time! For pet names and such. My sweet, little Shizu-chan~!”

“That’s not any better at all!” Shizuo yelled, his face officially flaming at the sing-song, sugary tone in Izaya’s voice. “And don’t refer to me as yours!”

“Mmhm. Sure thing.” Izaya agreed in a tone that told Shizuo he had no intention of listening to the request at all. “Now come on! Let’s head inside this dingy joint and see what kind of arcade they keep inside.”

Shinra laughed as he walked past Shizuo, following Izaya down the eerie hallway. “Come on, Shizuo-kun!” The wannabe-doctor called back, grinning as he waved at Shizuo to follow. “This was your idea, after all. Time to check this place out!”

“Hurry up, Shizu-chan!” Izaya’s voice echoed back to them, the raven apparently moving further and further away with no signs of stopping. “Or I’ll have to break up with you and find someone else to give my pet name to!”

“We’re not together, Izaya-kun!” Shizuo called in response, walking in after the two weirdos. “…And don’t you dare give that nickname to anyone else.”

He could hear a light giggle from up ahead of him, one that sounded like some wandering demon spirit was slipping through the corridor and laughing at them. It echoed creepily in the tight space around them, made even creepier by the creaking sounds and hisses around them as they traveled down the long hallway.

Shinra shivered in fear, backing up closer to Shizuo as he looked around himself in fear. “T-That’s not funny, Orihara-kun!” He yelled down the hallway, his voice echoing. “D-Don’t laugh like that again!”

Another giggle rang out in response, this one turning into a short, bright laugh at the end that rang even more powerfully, bouncing all around them and wrapping them in its sound.

“Orihara-kun!” Shinra yelled in response, glaring up ahead and then looking at Shizuo as if expecting some back-up. “Please tell him you think it’s creepy, too…Shizuo-kun?”

At some point as they had walked through the red corridor, Izaya’s laughter echoing eerily all around them, a smile had crept its way onto the tall blonde’s normally-furious face. A peaceful smile. A happy smile. A fond smile.

“Cute.” Shizuo said softly, quiet enough that the word wouldn’t echo down to the raven they could see waiting for them at the end of the next turn, waving them over excitedly. “…He’s cute.”

Shinra watched his friend for a few seconds as they walked towards the impatient model bouncing in place in front of the next door, a slow smile making its way onto the future doctor’s face as well.

“Yep.” Shinra said to himself in a low voice that nobody but he could hear, watching Izaya complain about how long his Shizu-chan had taken to catch up to him while the blonde walked up and met him at the next door, blaming him for being too impatient.

“You two are definitely cute.”

As the trio opened the next door to explore the next part of the arcade, Shinra couldn’t have been happier that he’d introduced Shizuo and Izaya to each other in his life.

If only something hadn’t happened in the next few hours that completely ruined everything.

Or rather…someone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh gee. I wonder who the "someone" could possibly be! I have no idea. Not a single one. No guess at all!
> 
> We'll just have to wait until the next chapter to find out who snuck into the arcade after them with a plan to ruin Izaya and Shizuo's little date! We must all support Shinra! We must all support the wingman!!
> 
> Anyways, just another friendly reminder that the next chapter won't be posted on the 15th. Please wait until April to see what happens next! Thank you all so much for reading!
> 
> Ah, also, the next blogpost should be up in a few minutes. Today's post is called "What You Probably Would've Never Learned about Prison Uniforms".
> 
> I'll see you all next time! <3


	10. The Dingy Dungeon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! Sorry this is getting posted so ridiculously late! My plan was to write the chapter over the weekend, but something came up in one of my classes (I misinterpreted some assignments and had to re-write three essays) so I ended up not having enough time for it. I wrote almost all of this today, just now, and I haven't gotten the chance to proof-read it yet, so I apologize in advance if there's anything weird because of that!
> 
> Again, sorry for the late update! Don't worry - the next ones after this should be posted at much better times and since I'm officially back from China, I won't be missing any more updates anytime soon. I hope you enjoy the chapter! I'll see you at the end! <3

Izaya needed to keep his cool. Keep his cool, keep calm, keep collected, stay in control. Those basically were all the same thing, but that only showed just how devoted he was to the mantra of control in his life.

The mantra of control that Heiwajima Shizuo seemed designed to break down.

Izaya didn’t know how their conversation had shifted so quickly. One second, they were at each other’s throats like usual (funny to think of it as usual when he’d only known the guy for two days) and then all sorts of new information had popped up that had forced Izaya to rethink his position on the male species.

He wasn’t even joking when he said that. How was it even possible for someone who looked as fine as Shizuo to have _self-esteem_ issues? It was crazy to think of! Usually, a guy grew a mustache and suddenly thought he was the king of the freaking world. But Shizuo? The guy was the walking definition of masculine perfection and he had called himself “as physically appealing as a gorilla”. Not to mention he’d bashed on the fact that he hadn’t made it into college and that he was working at a café. This guy only saw the flaws in himself and Izaya couldn’t wrap his head around it.

And when Shinra had pulled Izaya back for those few seconds before they’d started following Shizuo inside the arcade, letting him know that these sorts of things weren’t even half of the horrible things Shizuo said and thought about himself, Izaya had nearly fallen over in shock.

His psychology-student mind had started racing, trying to come up with theories for how Shizuo could’ve possibly turned out like this. Did he have mentally-abusive parents who told him he was never good enough? Did he have some kind of sibling complex and was set on comparing himself to his much more successful younger brother? Perhaps he compared himself to the people around him in general, always feeling that since he didn’t fit the status quo, he wasn’t good enough for it? There were so many things Izaya just wanted to grill Shizuo on now, to dig deeper into this baffling psychosis that he never would’ve labeled Shizuo with, but he knew it was a terrible idea at this phase in their “relationship”.

It only helped further prove Izaya’s opinion that humans really were some of the most fascinating beings on earth, though. They could have the bodies of supermodels and still delude themselves into a mindset that shamed their own self-worth.

This new development that Izaya had learned about Shizuo made the raven consider his little experiment with Shizuo in a new light. He’d been planning on turning the barista’s anger for him into attraction, and he’d thought that it had seemed promising what with the dumbfounded and almost bashful response he’d gotten from Shizuo after insisting that the blonde was sexy. But since Shizuo’s anger towards Izaya was now potentially stemming from anger he held towards himself…it might complicate Izaya’s psychological methods.

He couldn’t very well keep flirting with Shizuo, knowing that the blonde was a ticking time-bomb of self-esteem who might explode if he felt too inferior next to Izaya at any given moment. Izaya needed to approach Shizuo differently now. He couldn’t waltz up to the blonde and flaunt his looks or his talent to make Shizuo fall for him. That would drive the blonde farther away. He needed to approach Shizuo as more of…an equal. Just an average guy, trying to become friends (with benefits) with another average guy. He needed to let Shizuo know he was still flirting, but keep it to a minimum and avoid his usual flaunting tactics. Flirting with Shizuo needed to subtle, simple, and genuine. Anything else would make the blonde highly uncomfortable. At least until he gained some more self-esteem.

Geez. Why was Izaya putting so much effort into this stupid experiment?

Izaya shook his head, trying not to stray down _that_ line of thought, and instead choosing to focus on the moment once more. They were walking through the weird sewer-room now, up a set of stairs, about to enter the second floor of the famous Anata no Warehouse arcade, where all the arcade stuff began.

Izaya was actually pretty excited. It definitely didn’t seem like your average, boring arcade.

When their little trio exited the sewer-room, Shinra bringing up the rear as Shizuo and Izaya walked beside each other, Izaya was treated to the sight of a rundown alleyway.

There were fake apartments designed into the walls around them, rundown and rusted with old appliances sparking inside them and wilting plants hanging outside their windows. There were some sketchy food vendors littered around the floor, with fake food hanging from their stalls that looked surprisingly realistic. The ground was designed to look like old concrete, and pieces of rusted metal were littered everywhere. Izaya actually saw ivy climbing up the walls in certain places, and the special lighting of the room made it feel like they were walking around at night underneath some old, flickering lamps, even though everything was still well-lit. Add the final touches of graffiti on the walls, a terrifyingly unhygienic-looking bathroom off to the side, rusted catwalks suspended in the air above them, flickering neon signs, and untrustworthy wiring hanging from the ceiling for everyone to see, and you had yourself the perfect atmosphere for a slummy apartment neighborhood at night.

“I love it.” Izaya said immediately, staring at everything around them with wide eyes. “This is absolutely incredible.”

“The detail is amazing.” Shizuo agreed, staring in awe at the worn concrete pillars around them showing signs of decay and age. “There had to be a lot of money put into all this to make it so life-like. Just look at the subtle shading they used on the architecture to give it the texture of age without actually aging it.”

Izaya glanced briefly at Shizuo, noticing the way his golden eyes were lit up as he observed all the details of the room.

“And the plants are real, but they waited to display them until the plants were in the process of wilting so they would have the ideal, dull color to accent the room.” Shizuo was continuing, pointing up at one of the hanging plants above them. “See? You can tell because they’re hung upside down. It dries them out and preserves them longer, even though they remain in a wilted state.”

“Uh huh.” Izaya agreed flatly, still staring at Shizuo.

Shizuo paused at the tone in Izaya’s voice and then looked down at the raven beside him, a bit of an embarrassed look on his face. “What?” He asked defensively, his cheeks turning a little red. “It’s cool.”

“Oh, I know it’s cool, Shizu-chan.” Izaya agreed, smiling at bit at the tall blonde. “But I think it’s cooler that you can actually identify all the effort that went into making it so cool.”

Shizuo’s eyes widened at the compliment, the blonde seemingly not knowing what to do with himself after hearing something like that.

“Shizuo’s an artist at heart!” Shinra sang before the embarrassed blonde could come up with an adequate response, slinging an arm around his tall friend’s shoulders happily. Shinra shot Izaya a wide grin, his eyes sparkling with mirth. “He’s always excelled at art classes and visual stuff. It’s why he was originally hired as a barista, actually. He can make all those cute little foam patterns and stuff when people ask for them. Plus, he decorates the café for all our holidays and designed our logo and stuff.”

“Shinra.” Shizuo hissed, his ears turning bright red as he looked sharply at his feet. “Shut the hell up.”

Izaya stared at Shizuo in amazement, taking in that angry, delinquent, bad-boy appearance that had drawn his interest at first sight. Now he was taking interest in Shizuo for whole new reasons.

“You’re an art guy.” Izaya said in surprise, watching how Shizuo jumped at the accusation. “You’re an artistic, thoughtful guy.”

“It’s not a big deal. I’m really not that artsy.” Shizuo muttered, gripping Shinra’s arm and flinging it off his shoulders. “I just…like art stuff.”

“And apparently you’re very good at it, too.” Izaya refused to let the subject go, stepping right next to Shizuo and peering up into his shocked face. “Your café really does have a cute, cozy atmosphere, and the colors you put up compliment each other really well. I never cared about it before, but now that I know you’re the one doing it instead of some professional designer, I’m actually really impressed.”

Izaya smiled at Shizuo, his red eyes glittering under the flickering lights. “You have a lot of talent.” He said honestly, which was something he never thought he’d be saying to the blonde so soon. “Really. I wish I knew what other kinds of art you do, Shizu-chan.”

Shizuo seemed absolutely dumbstruck by the idea of someone calling him talented. His face lost nearly all its color, and his eyes glazed over like his brain had stopped working.

“I’m…talented?” He asked slowly, the words sounding almost rusty on his tongue. “That’s…that’s not true.” He shook his head fervently, trying to pull himself out of his daze. “No. I don’t have any talent. I suck at everything.”

Izaya pouted (that damn self-esteem issue was bigger than he’d thought) and flicked Shizuo on the forehead. “You’re good at art. Deal with it.” He said petulantly, spinning on his heel and marching off into the warehouse. “Stupid Shizu-chan. Just take the compliment. It’s true.”

“It’s not.” Shizuo muttered to himself, but didn’t say anything else afterwards. He and Shinra simply followed Izaya off into the warehouse.

They looked around at some of the arcade machines that were scattered around the floor, commenting on the high scores on the racing and shooting games and puzzling over what some of the weirder games even were, trying to decided what they wanted to play first. There were all kinds of different things, from UFO catchers to rhythm games to classic arcade games from the 80s and 90s. There really was a lot to go on, and the sounds of the games beeping and playing all around them made it feel even more overwhelming.

“There are more floors of this place above us, too.” Shizuo informed them, pointing to an escalator over in the corner built underneath some rotting concrete. “I think there’s like five levels in total. But you need some kind of membership to use the fourth floor, and the fifth floor is just an internet café.”

“Ooh, let’s see if I can-” Izaya started to say, then caught himself, coughing into his hand as Shizuo looked at him.

“See if you can what, Izaya-kun?” He asked, frowning a little.

“Ah, nothing!” Izaya said breezily, heading for the escalator. “Let’s just check out the other floors!”

He had been going to suggest that they see if he could flirt with the staff to let them hang out on the fourth floor anyway but…that wouldn’t have worked out so well. No flaunting, Izaya. No flaunting.

They headed up to the next floor, which was already a big difference from the second floor. This one looked more modern, and was filled with things that looked like slot machines from Vegas. “What the heck is this? Is it like a gambling floor?” Izaya asked curiously, walking over to one of the blinking slot machines and squinting at it.

Shizuo laughed at Izaya’s comment, joining him at the machine with a warm smile that made Izaya’s heart involuntarily skip a beat.

“Nah. These are medal games.” Shizuo explained, planting a hand on the top of the machine and leaning over Izaya to peer at the screen.

Izaya stared pointedly at his hands, trying furiously not to blush or react as Shizuo’s body pressed lightly against his, heat radiating from the blonde’s skin as he inadvertently trapped Izaya in place against the machine.

“Uh…medal games?” Izaya managed to ask in a not-so-strangled voice, pulling himself out of his mind. “What are those?”

“Sorta like slot machines, I suppose.” Shizuo hummed, looking down at where Izaya’s hands were and gently grabbing one of them. Izaya nearly jumped at the unexpected contact from Shizuo’s hand, staring at their joined hands as Shizuo moved Izaya’s fingers up to the screen, guiding him through the controls on the game. “You put in money to play and then you can win these little coins called medals.” Shizuo explained as he showed Izaya what everything on the screen did, totally ignorant of the bright red color Izaya’s face was becoming. “They don’t really do anything. They’re just medals.”

“O-Oh.” Izaya stammered, trying not to focus on how close Shizuo was. Had he gotten closer? Izaya could swear that Shizuo was pressing up against Izaya more than he’d been before. “Cool.”

He heard a snicker off to his right and his head immediately snapped over to spot Shinra, filming the two of them gleefully on his phone.

“Don’t mind me”, the crazy doctor mouthed, gesturing at Izaya to keep going. “I’m not here!”

Izaya shot him a fierce glare, mentally resolving to wipe Shinra’s phone after this. “I’m gonna kill you.” He mouthed back, drawing a not-so-subtle slit across his throat with the free hand that Shizuo hadn’t grabbed. The blonde was still using Izaya’s hand to play the game, a small frown on his face as he added money and tried to win some of the weird medal things. He had no idea that Izaya and Shinra were busy making death threats.

Shinra snickered again, ending his video and creeping over to Izaya, putting his lips to Izaya’s ear. “Just think: Shizuo’s got you pinned up against an arcade machine right now. You’re bent over the top of it, and your rear end is all lined up with his crotch. I’m only seeing so many ways this can go if he notices what position you’re in.” The pervert whispered, grinning maniacally at Izaya.

The raven’s face turned beet-red and he instantly jumped up from the medal game, startling Shizuo and sending him stumbling back from the game just as some medals started spitting out of the machine into the dispenser.

“Oh look! You won!” Izaya said with fake cheer, scooping up the little coins and handing them to Shizuo with an equally fake grin. “Fantastic! Let’s move on to the next floor.”

“Uh…okay?” Shizuo said uncertainly, pocketing the medals and giving Izaya a weird look. “You alright? You look a little off.”

“I’m fine!” Izaya sang, marching with a purpose to the escalator. “Next floor, Shizu-chan!”

He was definitely going to murder Shinra later.

“Uh, Izaya-kun! Wait!” Shizuo called after him, but the raven was practically running up the escalator, darting around some of the other people on it to reach the next floor. His face felt so hot from the situation he’d just been in. Figures Shinra would have to show up and say something perverted to ruin a perfectly platonic moment! Gah!

Izaya hurriedly exited the escalator onto the fourth floor, marching right inside the next area without thinking.

When he looked up at it, he was surprised by the classy atmosphere of the place.

The lighting was dark with small, elegant lights lining the ceiling in various places. There were red velvet pool tables scattered throughout the room, some table tennis sets next to them, and dartboards lining the walls. There were mostly men on this floor for some reason, and no teenagers, and Izaya could clearly see some of the men drinking beer as they shot pool or set up table tennis games with each other. A few of them peered curiously at Izaya, their eyes raking him up and down in a way that made his skin crawl before they turned back to their own games, whispering to each other.

Ugh. Men.

Izaya suddenly felt self-conscious in his outfit, even though it was one of the simplest things he’d worn in a while aside from his school uniform. Plain blue jeans and a slightly loose, dove-gray long-sleeve shirt. That was it. That was the whole outfit. Unless you counted the black ball earring he’d randomly added to his right ear on a whim. He was definitely dressed-down, but these men were still eyeing him like he was the most delicious thing on the menu.

Well, judging by the fact that they were grown men hanging out alone in an arcade, there might not be much of a menu out there.

Izaya was about to turn around and meet Shinra and Shizuo on the escalator when he felt someone tap his shoulder.

He spun around, already prepared to slap a pervert in the face if he had to, but he was greeted by the friendly smile of a young man holding a pool stick instead. “Excuse me.” The young man said, giving a slight bow to Izaya as an apology for scaring him. “But do you happen to be Orihara Izaya?”

“Yes. Yes, that’s me.” Izaya said with a fake smile, his nerves calming down somewhat as he realized what was probably going on.

“Oh my gosh. I thought it might be but I didn’t know for sure.” The man said excitedly, pulling out a magazine from the bag he had slung over his shoulder. Yep. This guy was a fan.

“I just got the latest issue of the Jack O’Lantern fashion magazine.” The man continued, lifting it up and showing Izaya the cover.

Izaya squinted at it, recognizing it as one of the photo sets he’d done a few weeks ago. He was wearing a rose-red spaghetti strap shirt with a maroon jacket, but the jacket had been made to slide down his arms so that his shoulders and upper arms were exposed. Maroon skinny jeans adorned his legs, and his feet were bare, toenails painted dark-red. He was laying on his stomach, facing the camera with a mischievous smile on his face as he propped himself up on his elbows, holding a rose in his fingers. There were rose petals falling around him and the caption on the magazine listed it as the Valentine’s special.

Oof. He gave off quite a message in that photo that was not very accurate at all.

“Ah. Yes, that’s me.” Izaya laughed lamely, praying that the guy was just going to ask for an autograph or something and leave. “I’m a little embarrassed that you recognized me so easily. I’m not even wearing make-up or anything!”

“You don’t have to be all dressed up for me to recognize you.” The guy said excitedly, his eyes almost sparkling as he leaned in. “You’re so beautiful that no one else could ever compare to you, no matter what you’re wearing.”

“Aw. Thank you.” Izaya said politely, smiling and trying to take a subtle step back from the man. He was getting too close for comfort.

Where the hell were Shizuo and Shinra? They’d been right behind him before, right?

“I can’t believe I get to see you in person.” The man said, taking another step forward and moving even closer to Izaya. His eyes looked Izaya up and down almost greedily, drinking in his appearance. “You’re even more stunning in person. Cameras don’t do you justice.”

“That’s very nice of you to say.” Izaya let the smile drop from his face as the creep factor in the situation amped up. This guy was giving him bad vibes. He needed to stop sending positive signals to get him to back off. “But I’m really not comfortable with those kinds of comments. Sorry about that. Could you please stop?”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything!” The man cried, still stepping forward and now barely two feet away from Izaya, completely ignoring the request. “You’re like a god or an angel on earth. You shouldn’t ever have to apologize for anything.”

“Alright. Please stop, sir. You’re getting too close.” Izaya said firmly but politely, taking several steps back this time and eyeing him warily. The situation was getting worse now. Izaya would have to get some help here soon if this man kept harassing him.

“I worship you.” The man said dreamily, pulling his phone out of his pocket as if he wanted to take pictures of Izaya. “Could I please have some pictures of you? Just a few?”

“No.” Izaya’s voice dropped an octave, the raven giving the creep a stern glare. “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t want you taking pictures of me.”

“Just a few.” The man insisted, holding his phone up anyway and eyeing Izaya with that same crazed, greed. “I need them.”

_“I don’t even want to know what he needs them for.”_ Izaya thought with an internal shudder, his hand automatically coming up to shield his face from the camera as he stepped back again. “Sir, it’s illegal to take pictures of someone without their consent. Stop now.”

“Lower your arm.” The man said in response, his hand darting out and gripping Izaya’s wrist in a flash. His grip was tight, almost desperate, and he pulled down on Izaya’s arm with surprising force. “I need to see your face.”

“Let go of me!” Izaya shouted, dropping all the niceties now that it had moved to physical harassment, and fiercely yanking on his arm, bringing his other hand up to continue shielding his face. “Go away!”

The other men in the room were beginning to take notice of the commotion, and a few of them were giving Izaya looks of concern, setting down their things as they came over to help. Thank God chivalry wasn’t entirely dead yet.

“Hey!” One of the men shouted, glaring at the crazy creep. “Let go of him.”

“No. I need these pictures.” The nutcase insisted, pulling harshly on Izaya’s arm as the raven struggled against him. “I need them!”

“Get your fucking hands off Izaya.” A deep voice snarled, a blonde blur slamming into the side of the man and shoving him away as easily as if he’d been a child. The man cried out and fell onto his back, wincing in pain as his magazine and phone skittered away across the floor.

Izaya looked over in gratitude to see Shizuo standing protectively in front of him, glaring at the man with fire in his golden eyes.

“What the hell gives you the right to touch anyone else like that?” The blonde barista demanded, practically gnashing his teeth at the man on the ground. “You fucking asshole. Don’t ever do that to anybody.”

“Izaya!” Shinra’s voice called frantically, the skinny man running up to them as he looked at the creep on the floor. “There you are. Sorry we took so long to get here. This is the fourth floor that you need a membership for and the security people stopped us at the door a ways back.”

“I didn’t even notice a door.” Izaya said flatly, glancing back the way he’d come in surprise. “Did I walk past it?”

“I guess.” Shinra sighed. “The security guys said you looked familiar so they assumed you had a membership and let you in. It took me a while to convince them that you were a model and that was probably where they’d seen you before instead.”

Shinra laughed a bit as he gave Izaya a grin. “I ended up looking you up so they could have proof. Shizuo-kun’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the picture of you that came up.”

“I don’t even want to know what picture that is.” Izaya groaned, although he was a little curious as to what had gotten a reaction out of Shizuo.

“Shut up, Shinra. My eyes didn’t pop out of my head.” The blonde snapped, his ears turning a little red with embarrassment as he glared the creep on the floor right out of the room. “And that’s not important right now. What’s important is whether or not Izaya wants to sue that guy for harassment.”

“It’s fine.” Izaya sighed, placing a hand gently on one of Shizuo’s broad shoulders. “He’s not the first creep I’ve ever met and he won’t be the last. My boss said there’s no point trying to sue them all. Unless he actually caused me visible or serious physical harm, it’s not worth the hassle.”

“That’s bullshit.” Shizuo muttered, still glaring out the door. “You shouldn’t have to deal with all that.”

“It is what it is.” Izaya said breezily, although his chest felt a little warm and fuzzy from Shizuo’s words. “Anyways, let’s leave. We can’t be on this floor anyway.”

He gave a quick thank-you to the other men who’d been coming over to help him, bowing respectfully to them all before walking out with Shizuo and Shinra.

None of them really felt like heading up to the internet café (although Izaya was a little curious about the statues of Greek and Roman gods he could see up the escalator that apparently decorated it) so they decided to head back down to the second floor to start playing some good old arcade games. Just forget the whole creep-incident and lose themselves in games. That was the plan.

But of course, something happened once they were down there that was an even bigger deal than the creep.

While Izaya and Shizuo were having a dance-off on one of the dance-mat games, and Shinra was filming them gleefully, someone unexpected decided to show up and join the party.

Izaya had just won the dance round – to his great joy – and was in the process of rubbing it in the scowling blonde’s handsome face when he caught a glimpse of silver out of the corner of his eye.

“Huh?” Izaya froze immediately, glancing over in shock as he saw a familiar figure bending over an arcade game just a few rows away from theirs. “Is that…Shinichi?”

“What?” Shinra practically shrieked in horror, spinning around to search for the fashion model. “Where? Let’s make sure we avoid whichever half of the room he’s on.”

“Shinra.” Izaya scolded, hopping off the dance-mat and staring at the back of the head that he was becoming more and more certain belonged to Shinichi. “He’s a good friend.”

“He’s an evil snake.” Shinra scowled, looking nervously at Shizuo and then back at Shinichi. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Shinichi is the guy I yelled at before, right?” Shizuo asked, hopping off his own mat as well and glancing uncomfortably at the silver head in the distance.

“Yes.” Izaya said tightly, the unwelcome memory rushing back into his brain. So much for pretending he and Shizuo had never met before today. A stark reminder of why they hated each other was standing right in front of them. “That’s him.”

“Prime reason not to interact with him now!” Shinra chirped, clapping his hands sharply. “Let’s leave.”

“Shinra.” Izaya said again, glaring at his annoying best friend. “Shinichi is a good guy.”

Before Shinra could come up with another insult to refute Izaya’s statement, a flash of silver suddenly caught their eyes, a new figure coming to a stop in front of them.

“Izaya-kun!” Shinichi said brightly, smiling his usual dazzling smile at Izaya. “Fancy seeing you here!”

“Yeah. It’s so convenient.” Shinra muttered at Izaya’s side, glaring at the silver-haired model. Izaya elbowed Shinra in the side, smiling back at Shinichi just as brightly. “Yeah! I didn’t know you hung out at arcades, Shinichi.” He responded, feeling his heart flutter a bit as Shinichi laughed.

“On and off.” The friendly man smiled, his eyes flickering over to Shizuo. “And I see my good friend Heiwajima-san is here as well. Hello again.”

“Hey.” Shizuo said lamely, scratching the back of his head with a guilty expression. “Look man, I’m sorry I overreacted last time we, ah, met. I was totally out of line and I-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Shinichi cut him off breezily, smiling at the blonde with a glimmer in his eye. “I understand. You just didn’t know how close Izaya and I were and you jumped to conclusions because you were jealous.”

“I wasn’t jealous.” Shizuo scowled, a glare settling onto his face instead as a dark look entered his eyes.

“Mmhm. Sure.” Shinichi smiled kindly at Shizuo, patting his pityingly on the shoulder. “You don’t have to admit it if you aren’t mature enough. It’s fine if you want to pretend like it was something else.”

“I’m plenty fucking mature.” Shizuo snapped, his fists clenching tightly at his sides as though he wanted to punch the guy. “You just need to shut your mouth.”

“Shizu-chan!” Izaya glared at the tall blonde, getting a little angry with the big idiot for being so aggressive. “Knock it off.”

“Shizu-chan?” Shinichi repeated the nickname, a bit of amusement filtering into his voice. “That’s a cute nickname.”

“Don’t call me cute.” Shizuo growled, taking a threatening step towards Shinichi.

Shinichi didn’t move at all, as calm and friendly as he always was, and simply continued to smile. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was talking about the nickname.” He explained himself, giving Izaya a look. “This guy has a bit of a short temper, doesn’t he?”

“A bit.” Izaya agreed with a nervous laugh, and the growl that came from Shizuo’s throat didn’t exactly help the blonde’s case. “Shizu-chan, seriously! Cut it out!”

“Why should he?” Shinra demanded, glaring at Shinichi. “This snake is obvious trying to make Shizuo-kun look bad in front of you. I think Shizuo-kun should rip his head off.”

“Kishitani-san!” Shinichi looked at Shinra with hurt in his eyes. “I never understand why you hate me so much.”

“He doesn’t!” Izaya said quickly, trying desperately to salvage this train-wreck of a situation before it got any worse. “He’s like that to everybody! Um, so how long have you been at the arcade?”

“Just a few minutes.” Shinichi shrugged, smiling brightly at Izaya and ignoring the fierce glares he was getting for no reason from Izaya’s stupid friends. “Mind if I hang out with you guys a bit?”

“Not at all.” Izaya said at the same time that Shinra said “Hell yes we mind” and Shizuo growled “I’d rather choke you to death”.

“Fantastic!” Shinichi chirped, positive as usual as he beamed at Izaya. “I have some things to talk to you about anyway.”

He walked over to Izaya, smoothly looping an arm around his shoulders and steering him away from the seething idiots behind them. “I don’t really want to walk with the people who seem like they’re plotting my funeral.” Shinichi whispered good-naturedly in Izaya’s ear. “Mind if I just walk with you?”

“I don’t mind.” Izaya smiled, heart skipping a beat at how close Shinichi was. “And it makes sense, anyways.”

“Great!” Shinichi laughed, eyes glittering as he led Izaya over to a different set of dance games. “I’m glad you agree, Iza-chan.”

Izaya wanted to point out the nickname that he hadn’t agreed to let Shinichi use, but the guy was probably just a bit nervous about having Shinra and Shizuo following them with death threats in their eyes. Izaya could let it slide for a day.

He just hoped nothing would get out of control as Shinichi helped him up onto the dance-mat, courteous as always, and then climbed up on the one next to Izaya. Shinra and Shizuo stood behind them, whispering to each other, as Shinichi flipped easily through the selection of songs, selecting a pop love song.

As Izaya got ready to dance, he thought about Shizuo’s eyes on him from behind, watching him with Shinichi, and a small blush of shame crept over his cheeks.

Wait, shame? Why did he feel shameful? He didn’t owe Shizuo anything. He hadn’t promised to spend the day with Shizuo. Heck, he hadn’t even known Shizuo was going to be here. He shouldn’t feel any kind of shame over this at all. Besides, he’d known Shinichi longer – it was natural to dance to songs like this with him.

Shizuo would just have to suck it up and watch if he had a problem with it.

Izaya shook his head to clear his mind and started dancing to the first notes alongside Shinichi.

If he had known how many more problems were going to arise from letting Shinichi, Shinra, and Shizuo stay in the same place as each other, he might not have been so quick to set his fears aside.

Because once those three were left alone, all hell broke loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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> Those are some pictures of Anata no Warehouse so you can kind of picture what it looks like better if you weren't able to before.
> 
> Ooooooh boy! Shinichi is gonna mess things up now.
> 
> Why can't Izaya see what Shinichi is doing?! Gah! He's so one-minded when it comes to that guy! It's ridiculous! 
> 
> Anyways, I wonder what's going to happen when those three get left alone? Who's going to start something? Will Shinichi still be a nice guy or will we see a new side of him? Will Shizuo and Shinra commit murder? Who knows! We'll find out next time (at a reasonable time of day, hopefully)!
> 
> Oh, also, if you're following my blog, then I'll probably update that sometime later this week since I'm way too tired to write a new post right now. Sorry about that!
> 
> Alright, I think that's everything. I'll see you guys next time! Thanks for reading! <3


	11. The Color of Disaster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody! Wow, it feels like it's been so long since I posted. I don't know why, but this last month has really seemed very long! Maybe it's because of finals and all that good stuff. I don't know. But whatever the reason, now I'm finally back with an update for "Carmine Coffee"!
> 
> This chapter is a little bit shorter than the others, but that's just because of the way it flowed. Don't worry - the next chapter should be a much longer one. In any case, are you guys all ready to see Shizuo's take on the situation between Izaya and Shinichi?
> 
> Hope you enjoy it! I'll see you at the end! <3

Shizuo was going to blow his lid.

There was no doubt in his mind about it. There was no question about the possibility of the event. He was going to explode in a blast of fiery rage and destroy everything in front of him. Armageddon was coming and it was coming in the form of a pissed off blonde barista with superhuman strength and a sweet tooth.

And why might that be?

Oh, simply the fact that a silver-haired snake had crashed the middle of what had been shaping up to be one of the most relaxing days of Shizuo’s life, had insulted him and rejected his attempts to apologize for his behavior earlier, and had set him up to look like a complete asshole in front of Izaya.

Not that the last one should really matter all that much (there was no reason for Shizuo to care what Izaya thought of him anyway) but for some reason, it did.

And it didn’t help that the snake had essentially whisked Izaya away in a flurry of smooth-talk and dazzling smiles, bringing him up to a dance game and playing songs that were obviously love songs just to rub the entire thing in Shizuo’s face.

And Shizuo knew he was rubbing it in his face, too. The asshole kept looking back at him as he and Izaya danced and _smirking_. He was _smirking_ at Shizuo, blatantly and unabashedly, as though daring the blonde to even try getting between him and Izaya.

It was pissing Shizuo off to no end.

“It’s all a misunderstanding. He’s probably not that bad of a guy.” Shizuo muttered to himself, fists clenched tightly at his sides as his arms trembled with rage. “He’s not that bad of a guy, he’s not that bad of a guy, he’s not that bad of a guy…”

“What are you talking about? He’s the worst guy in the world!” Shinra hissed, glaring daggers at the silver-haired boy’s back. “It figures he would show up here. It just _figures_!”

Shizuo frowned at that, glancing over at Shinra as the future-doctor fairly bristled with rage. 

“Why do you say it like that?” Shizuo asked, cocking his head at Shinra. “Does he have a habit of popping up or something?”

“Habit?” Shinra scoffed, crossing his arms with a scowl. “More like an obsession. He’s always, _always_ , been able to conveniently appear whenever Orihara-kun and I are out somewhere. Or sometimes when Orihara-kun is out by himself, he tells me later about how he saw Shinichi at the mall or how Shinichi popped up while he was eating at a café or how Shinichi magically appeared at the movie theater for the exact same movie Orihara-kun was going to watch.”

Shinra looked at Shizuo with a fierce glare, but Shizuo knew it wasn’t directed at him. “That snake is always following Izaya.” Shinra hissed. “I don’t know how, but he is. He follows Orihara-kun everywhere, pops up at the most opportune times, and basically acts like Orihara-kun’s knight in shining armor while he makes everybody else look like idiots, assholes, and freaks.”

Shinra turned his glare on Shinichi’s back now, glowering with the darkest expression Shizuo was pretty sure he’d ever seen on the scrawny boy’s face. “He’s a menace.” Shinra growled. “And Orihara-kun has no idea.”

Shizuo’s frown deepened and his gaze inadvertently flicked over to the raven-haired model he’d been slowly coming to tolerate as the day had worn on.

Izaya was dancing to yet another love song selected by Shinichi, laughing and joking with the silver-haired boy as he spun elegantly through the dance steps. His glossy hair gleamed under the lights of the arcade, his ruby eyes sparkled like the jewels their color was so similar to, and each movement he made seemed to be a carefully perfected motion designed to trap Shizuo’s attention and take his breath away from the sheer beauty of it. He looked stunning, even as he danced in a grungy-looking arcade, sweating and huffing from exertion.

But Shizuo shouldn’t be focusing on that right now! Right now, what he wanted to do was pulverize the unfortunately equally stunning model beside Izaya.

Shinichi was every bit as graceful in his movements as Izaya, hitting each step flawlessly and moving through the air like he’d been born to dance in this arcade. His smile was confident and his eyes taunted Shizuo whenever their gazes connected, broadcasting the message that he was so much better than Shizuo would ever be.  
Like Shizuo needed a reminder of that. He knew how useless and hopeless he was, thank you very much. That asshole didn’t need to show off to prove it to him.

“What are you gonna do about it, Shizuo?” Shinra asked, dragging Shizuo’s attention back to their conversation.

“Huh? What?” Shizuo looked at Shinra in confusion, trying not to let his gaze travel back to the dancing duo. “What are you talking about? What am I supposed to do? Actually, _why_ am I supposed to do anything?”

“Because!” Shinra growled, glaring viciously at Shinichi. “That jerk swooped in and messed up your time with Orihara-kun! The two of you were getting along great. And I personally think Orihara-kun was warming up to you in a decidedly romantic way.”

“R-Romantic?” Shizuo practically choked on the words, his face turning beet red. “No. No, you’re way off the mark. There’s no way someone like…like _him_ would be into someone like me.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” Shinra looked at Shizuo in astonishment. “Orihara-kun had literally told you to your face that he finds you attractive. He thinks you’re super hot and now that he’s been hanging out with you all day, he knows a little bit more about the personality behind your hotness. And. He. Likes. It.”

“He does not!” Shizuo hissed, glancing at Izaya swiftly and praying the raven couldn’t hear all this.

He seemed absorbed in his dancing game, however, twirling on the dance mat and hitting each of the notes perfectly, a little bit of sweat trickling down his forehead from the effort of the dance.

“He’s not stupid.” Shizuo continued, looking back at Shinra with a firm glare. “He knows better than to even begin to like a loser like me.”

“Shizuo-kun!” Shinra said in exasperation, glaring right back. “Stop putting yourself down! You have way more good qualities than you ever let yourself believe! Just open your eyes, stop beating yourself up, and you’ll see that good things don’t just happen to perfect people.”

Shinra pointed harshly at Izaya, fire in his eyes. “That successful, intelligent, sassy, beautiful boy up there has the hots for you, Shizuo-kun. _You_. He’s head over heels for the _ronin_ (quick reminder that this is a term used in Japan for people who were unable to get into university after high school), delinquent-looking, aggressive, part-time barista at Firefly Brew who makes his favorite coffee every day.” Shinra jabbed Shizuo harshly in the chest, the fire never losing an inch of its ferocity. “He likes you. And if you could just open your eyes and admit that you deserve him, you would see that.”

Shizuo fell silent at those words, his golden eyes slowly moving over to look at Izaya again.

He’d finally finished the song with Shinichi and was wiping his forehead with a sigh of relief, laughing as he pointed out how high his score was compared to the silver-haired boy’s. Shinichi said something in response, probably a smooth-talking compliment designed to make Izaya fall in love with him, and the raven giggled happily, his eyes sparkling. For the briefest moment, those eyes flicked over to Shizuo, freezing once they locked with his gaze.

Red looked deep into gold, and a small blush crept over Izaya’s cheeks as he swiftly looked away again.

Shizuo could feel his heart skip a beat in his chest, blood pounding hotly through his veins as his mind raced with the possibility.

Could…could Izaya like him? It was crazy. It was insane and impossible. Izaya was way out of his league. There was no way he could like someone like Shizuo. Shinichi was more up his alley.

But as Shizuo continued to watch Izaya laugh with Shinichi, he saw his red eyes continuously flick over and steal glances at him, then look back to Shinichi in embarrassment at being caught. He kept looking at Shizuo, even though he was talking to Shinichi.

Was it possible?

“Get in there and steal Orihara-kun back.” Shinra muttered lowly, giving Shizuo a light push towards the dance mats. “He wants you and Shinichi is trying to make him forget that. So put a stop to it!”

Shizuo froze in place, staring up at the dance mats and the dancers on them as his heart pounded in his chest. He wanted to. He definitely wanted to steal Izaya away from the snake who apparently stalked him and was apparently not as good a person as he tried to seem around Izaya. He wanted to go back to him, Izaya, and Shinra hanging out in the arcade, the three of them relaxing and chilling without some snake making things awkward and tense. He wanted to keep forgetting that he and Izaya hated each other, and keep starting over.

But he didn’t have a clue for how to jump in between the smooth-talker and the raven, or even if Izaya really wanted him to. After all, he seemed to be having a good time up there with Shinichi, and Shizuo didn’t want to ruin anything if Izaya was having a good time. He was probably stressed quite often thanks to his job and college, and based on the encounter with Izaya’s “fan” earlier, he probably didn’t get much of a chance to relax outside of those things either.

If Izaya was happy and relaxed for once, Shizuo didn’t want to ruin that.

But damn did he want to get Shinichi away from the raven!

Thankfully, his internal dilemma was solved by Izaya himself.

“I’ve got to use the restroom.” The beautiful boy announced, hopping down from the platform and glancing again at Shizuo. Although this time instead of looking back at Shinichi, he turned his gaze to Shinra. “I’ll be right back.” He promised, pulling out his phone and checking the time. “Probably before 3:45. Just…wait here, I guess? Please don’t fight.”

Now he looked at Shizuo as he said that, his red eyes practically pleading. “Please.” He said again.

Shizuo scratched the back of his head, looking down in shame, but nodded nonetheless. “I’ll try.” He muttered, hoping he’d be able to keep his anger in check.  
Izaya beamed at him despite the noncommittal promise, grabbing Shizuo’s hand and squeezing it gratefully. “Thank you.” He said brightly, seeming truly thankful as he smiled at Shizuo. Shizuo could feel his skin tingling where Izaya’s was making contact with his, and his face turned red as the model looked at him like he was his sole source of happiness in the world.

“Go to the bathroom.” Shizuo mumbled gruffly, looking down in embarrassment. “We’ll be here.”

“Okay!” Izaya chirped happily, squeezing Shizuo’s hand once more before heading off. “I’ll be back in a few!”

All three of the remaining boys watched Izaya go, waiting until he’d slipped out of sight before turning their attention on each other.

“So good to see you again, Kishitani.” Shinichi said in a shockingly nasty tone, giving Shinra a self-righteous smirk. Shizuo couldn’t help but notice how he’d also dropped the honorifics from earlier when talking to Shinra. He was just being plain rude now that Izaya was gone.

“Can’t say the same, Shinichi.” Shinra practically snarled, glaring like a demon. “I wish you’d been locked up after that investigation.”

“They didn’t find anything on me. I’m clean.” Shinichi said sweetly, patting Shinra’s head condescendingly. “So sorry, little doc.”

“Even if you’ve fooled Orihara-kun and the rest of the public, you won’t fool me!” Shinra snapped, smacking away the hand. “You’re a criminal, Shinichi. A rotten scumbag who deserves to be kept in jail for a very long time.”

“A criminal?” Shizuo asked slowly, looking over at Shinichi in a mixture of shock and confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Shinichi glanced at Shizuo as if the blonde was something that had come off the bottom of his shoe. “Right. The amoeba-brained gorilla still exists.” He shot Shizuo the same smirk, silver eyes flashed tauntingly. “How does it feel to meet someone who actually is the kind of person Izaya-chan should end up with?” He asked, taking a step towards Shizuo. “Do you realize how inferior you are? Do you realize that you’re nowhere near Izaya-chan’s level? Back off, you piece of shit. You’re not even worthy of breathing the same air as him.”

Shinichi looked at Shizuo in triumph, his gaze mocking. “Your own little brother is more suited to courting Izaya than you are. At least he’s got a career track and a successful job. He’s also talented and good with people and fairly intelligent. And for everything that your brother is, Izaya-chan is one hundred times more.”

He leaned in, shoving his face into Shizuo’s with a snarky grin. “What makes you think you could possibly come near Izaya?” He asked sweetly. “You’re soiling him with your very presence.”

“Get away from Shizuo-kun, you asshole!” Shinra yelled, his fist flying at Shinichi’s face.

Shizuo, who up until that point had been losing himself in Shinichi’s words, spiraling back into a hole of self-hatred and self-doubt, now found himself starkly distracted by a sight he never thought he’d see: Shinra punching somebody in the face.

His fist made direct contact with Shinichi’s cheek, sending the model stumbling a few steps away from Shizuo with a red mark slowly appearing on the flawless skin.  
He put his hand against it with a scowl, glaring fiercely at Shinra. “How dare you!” He hissed, eyes flashing like a snake. “You little twerp! I’ll snap your spine in two!”  
That brought Shizuo out of his daze of shock entirely.

“You sure as hell won’t do anything of the sort.” The blonde growled, stepping protectively in front of Shinra and giving Shinichi a dark glare. “No one touches my friends.”

“Oh yeah, tough guy?” Shinichi grinned nastily, readying his fists for a fight. “Let’s see about that.”

Shizuo snarled angrily, lifting his own fists as he felt his strength surging through his veins. He was very capable of smashing this guy’s head in or punching him halfway across town. Normally, he kept his anger fiercely in check in order to prevent such calamities from happening to the people who pissed him off. Sometimes, he’d even let them beat him up if that was their goal, just to make sure he didn’t accidentally kill them.

But this time, Shizuo was totally ready to let loose.

But Shinra realized something. “No Shizuo-kun! Don’t!” The future-doctor cried, grabbing Shizuo’s shirt desperately. “This is what he wants! Remember you told Orihara-kun you wouldn’t fight! He wants you to fight so that you look bad in front of Orihara-kun!”

“Shut your mouth, you little punk!” Shinichi snapped, glaring at him. “I’m coming for you next.”

“Like hell you are!” Shizuo roared, pissed off beyond belief that this guy was threatening his friend.

“Shizuo-kun, stop!” Shinra yelled desperately, gripping his shirt. “He’s saying this to get you angry!”

“Well, he succeeded!” Shizuo shouted, tearing out of Shinra’s grip and letting his fist fly right at Shinichi’s face.

The silver-haired snake dodged the fist easily, grinning widely at Shizuo with a glint in his eyes. “That the best you can do?” He taunted, spinning around and sending his own punch right into Shizuo’s side. “You’re pathetic!”

Shizuo growled like an animal and spun around, whipping his leg at Shinichi’s head at lightning speed.

Shinichi hopped backwards gracefully, landing on top of the dance mat and gesturing at Shizuo to come get him.

Shizuo, blinded by rage, raised his fist in the air, roaring as he ran for the machine and the snake sitting on it, ready to destroy both.

“SHIZUO!” Shinra screamed, his voice practically piercing Shizuo’s ears. “STOP!”

“I’ll tear your friend to pieces!” Shinichi shouted right after the doctor spoke, fueling the fire. “He’s dead meat the instant you leave!”

Shizuo shouted angrily and drove his fist right at Shinichi, a look of ultimate triumph passing over the silver-haired boy’s face as he leapt out of the way, letting Shizuo’s fist plow straight into the metal platform.

It sparked and fizzed around his fist, creaking horribly as he punched through it. The metal snapped and the machine sputtered pathetically, dying instantly under the onslaught of Shizuo’s fist.

“What a monster.” Shinichi snickered from behind Shizuo, backing away from him. “Punching straight through metal? And you think you’re worthy to be with someone as beautiful and delicate as Izaya-chan? Don’t make me laugh.”

Shizuo spun around to shout at Shinichi, ready to tear into him for what he’d said - about Shinra, about himself, about Izaya being delicate - but he froze immediately as he saw something on the other side of the arcade, past Shinichi’s shoulder.

Red eyes looking at him. Red eyes watching him. Red eyes watching him in shock, confusion, disappointment and worst of all…crushing betrayal.

A pit instantly appeared in Shizuo’s stomach as he and Izaya stared into each other’s eyes, the evidence of Shizuo’s rampage sparking and smoking right behind him.

Shinichi stood off to the side, smirking triumphantly at him. Shinra was looking at him in exasperation and disappointment, his gaze asking how Shizuo could’ve been so foolish. And Izaya just watched him, looking for all the world like he’d just caught Shizuo cheating behind his back or lying straight to his face.

“I win.” Shinichi said in a soft, sing-song voice, smirking at Shizuo. “Better leave now before Izaya-chan gets here. Wouldn’t want to see his face when he realizes you’re a monster that can punch through metal, now would we?”

It wasn’t that Shizuo wanted to listen to the snake’s words. It wasn’t that he didn’t know they were a manipulation technique, designed to get him to leave so that the snake would be all alone with Izaya and his only obstacle would be Shinra. But his words were true. They hit home in Shizuo’s heart.

He didn’t want to see Izaya’s face twist with horror and revulsion. He didn’t want to know how Izaya would react when he discovered the monstrosity that was Heiwajima Shizuo. He wanted to leave before any of that happened, and never come back.

He would come back and pay for the damages to the arcade later. Right now, he just wanted to get out of there.

Without another word, ignored Shinra as the future doctor tried to say something to talk Shizuo out of it, the blonde turned away from Izaya’s betrayed face and ran.  
He ran straight for the exit, refusing to look back even after shouts of his name rang after him. He ran right out of the arcade and down the straight, ran right past the train station, ran through the familiar streets of his city, ran all the way home, ran into his room, and slammed the door shut behind him.

He grabbed the paper from Izaya with the strange address on it that he’d received so long ago, the one still sitting on the table by his bed, and tore it up immediately, throwing the pieces in the trash.

Then he threw himself down on his bed and closed his eyes, wishing desperately that he could fall asleep now and never wake up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Oof. That hurt.
> 
> So what's Izaya gonna do now? Will Shinra tell him the truth about what happened? Will Izaya go and find Shizuo or avoid him like the plague? What was the paper and was it important? Who knows!
> 
> I guess we'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out. Sorry to those of you who were looking for some nice jealousy scenes of Shizuo watching Izaya and Shinichi here: Shinichi just didn't want to let this drag out because he's an evil little snake and he wants to ruin our ship's happiness.
> 
> In any case! I will see you all next month with the next update of "Carmine Coffee"! Hope you enjoyed the chapter (even if it didn't end so well) and I'll see you next time! <3 <3 <3


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